.:?•?«» 


TITK 


SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT: 


SKETCHES 


LIFE  OF  MR  SAMUEL  BUDGETT, 

LATE  OF   KINGSWOOD  HILL. 

t 

/, 


WELIAM  ARTHUR,  A.  M. 

\  > 

AUTHOR   OF    "A   MISSION   TO   THE  MYSOB^    ETC.* 


NEW-YORK : 
D.   APPLETON   &   COMPANY, 

443    &    445  BROADWAY. 
1862. 


PREFACE. 


ON  the  day  that  Mr.  Budgett  died  I  was  in  Bristol, 
staying  with  one  whose  heart  was  that  day  full.  He 
who  had  just  departed  was  naturally  the  subject  of 
conversation,  and  the  incidents  of  his  early  life  were 
freely  talked  over.  Just  then  the  prospect  of  a  long 
involuntary  leisure  was  before  me ;  and  designs  for 
improving  it  by  literary  occupation  were  already 
formed.  But  as  the  uncommon  history  of  the  de- 
ceased merchant  was  discussed,  the  thought  arose 
that  to  make  it  the  subject  of  a  Commercial  Biog- 
ra/phy  would  be  the  most  useful  application  of  the 
expected  leisure.  This  design  was  more  homely 
than  those  originally  entertained,  and  at  first,  not 
very  welcome  ;  but  after  some  time  spent  in  observ- 
ing and  inquiring,  the  conviction  of  its  superior  use- 
fulness was  confirmed. 

I  therefore  ventured  to  request  permission  from 
the  family  to  acquaint  myself  with  all  the  accessible 


4  PREFACE. 

details  of  his  life,  and  to  prepare  them  for  the  Public 
in  the  form  which  had  suggested  itself  to  me.  The 
request  was  unexpected,  but  was  kindly  met ;  and 
without  a  trace  of  the  vulgar  reluctance  to  allude  to 
the  earlier  stages  of  a  remarkable  rise,  every  par- 
ticular was  communicated  and  freely  left  at  my  dis- 
posal. A  strong  desire,  indeed,  was  manifested  to 
lay  me  under  restraint  as  to  any  thing  which  might 
be  construed  into  business  display ;  but  my  design 
required  freedom  to  show  what  Mr.  Budgett  had  at- 
tained, and  that  I  was  obliged  to  use. 

I  saw  him  carried  to  his  grave,  and  that  day  con- 
versed with  numbers  of  his  neighbours  and  his  men, 
none  knowing  my  intentions.  At  long  intervals, 
such  conversations  were  repeated  with  many  who 
had  known  him  closely,  some  being  aware  and  others 
not  aware  that  a  book  was  in  contemplation ;  and 
certainly  very  seldom  has  a  master  been  portrayed 
so  much  by  the  hand  of  his  own  men,  or  a  citizen 
by  that  of  his  neighbours,  as  in  the  following  pages. 

Biographers,  like  portrait  painters,  are  a  suspect- 
ed race :  it  is  generally  taken  for  granted  that  they 
paint  men  as  they  ought  to  be ;  while  to  the  histo- 
rian you  must  look  for  the  delineation  of  men  as  they 
are.  How  far  the  infirmity  of  the  race  besets  mo 
would  not  be  discussed  impartially  just  here  ;  but  it 
may  fairly  be  said  that,  in  the  picture  you  are  asked 


PEEFACE.  5 

to  look  upon,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  insert,  with 
a  firm  hand,  every  real  scar.  Some  will  say  they  are 
too  slight;  others  will  say  they  are  too  deep,  and 
these  they  who  most  intimately  knew  the  original. 

The  design  of  this  volume  is  to  furnish  a  work 
wherein  an  actual  and  a  remarkable  life  is  traced  in 
relation  to  Commerce.  It  was  never  meant  to  en- 
large the  knowledge  of  the  scholar,  to  mature  the 
graces  of  the  holy,  or  to  hallow  the  retirement  of  the 
contemplative ;  but  to  be  a  friendly,  familiar  ~bodk 
for  the  busy,  to  which  men  from  the  counting-house 
or  the  shop  might  turn,  feeling  that  it  concerned 
them,  and  for  which  they  might  possibly  be  the  bet- 
ter here  and  hereafter.  Beyond  this,  one  hope  did 
arise, — that  it  might  perhaps  meet  the  eye  of  some 
whose  leisure,  abilities,  and  spirit  would  fit  them  to 
direct  a  more  powerful  literature  or  a  sacred  elo- 
quence to  the  quickening  of  commercial  life  with 
the  principles  of  Christian  charity  and  uprightness. 
May  God  grant  that,  by  the  instrumentality  of  this 
humble  book,  some  youths  may  be  led  to  habits 
which  will  be  "  profitable  to  all  things,"  some  men 
lifted  above  the  trammels  of  commercial  selfishness, 
and  some  preachers  or  authors  moved  to  labour  to 
bring  religion  and  business  into  closer  union  ! 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

FAOft. 

THE  SPHERE  WHEREIN  HE  MOVED,      .        .  9 

CHAPTER  IL 
THE  BORN  MERCHANT .  24 

CHAPTER  III 
THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER, 53 

CHAPTER  IV. 
EARLY  Tons  AND  TROUBLES,          ...  .        .  95 

CHAPTER  V. 
RISE  AND  PROGRESS, 124 

CHAPTER  VL 
MASTER  AND  MEN, 164 

CHAPTER  VIL 
IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD, 235 

CHAPTER  VIIL 
IN  THE  FAMILY 266 

CHAPTER  DC 
THE  INNER  LIFE, 288 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  LATTER  END, 9)8 


THE    SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    SPHERE    WHEREIN    HE    MOVED. 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time ; 
Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 
Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother, 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again." 

LONGFELLOW. 

INGS  WOOD  is  not  a  bewitching  place.  Going  out 
_LV  from  Bristol,  you  find  the  road  skirted  by  rough  cot- 
tages, prolific  of  a  rough  population.  Here  and  there  is  a 
man  whose  complexion  has  just  been  painted  in  the  coal-pit, 
or  a  woman  in  costume  appropriate  to  other  ages, — a  long 
great-coat  of  dark-blue  cloth,  with  manifold  capes,  like  a 
coachman's,  surmounted  by  a  quaint  black  hat,  with  a  low 
orown,  and  a  leaf  spreading  widely  all  around,  but  lapped 
down  about  the  ears.  To  the  eye  of  a  stranger,  the  neigh- 
bourhood seems  to  lie  at  a  distance  from  our  day.  But  a 
few  modern  houses,  aspiring  toward  respectability,  a  modern 


10  THE   HOME. 

church,  and  modern  chapels,  all  in  very  good  taste,  show 
that  a  new  spirit  of  improvement  has  broken  in  upon  the  old 
apathy  of  the  place. 

Just  at  the  top  of  Kingswood  Hill,  about  four  miles 
from  Bristol,  a  lane  turns  off  from  the  main  road.  A  few 
dozen  yards  down  that  lane,  you  find  gates  that  indicate  the 
entrance  to  a  substantial  residence.  Passing  inside,  you 
are  in  grounds  where  shrubs  and  statues  pleasantly  contrast 
with  the  adjacent  rudeness.  To  your  left,  is  a  handsome 
house.  On  a  bright  green  lawn,  just  before  the  door,  stand 
a  fountain,  an  arbour  of  weeping  ash,  and  a  pedestal  sup- 
porting a  sun-dial.  On  the  other  side  of  the  lawn,  spangled 
groups  of  flowers  appear  through  the  transparent  walls  of 
a  conservatory ;  and  close  by,  in  a  large  and  handsome 
aviary,  a  silver  pheasant  holds  court  over  a  tribe  of  birds, 
some  curious,  some  musical.  Down  a  gentle  slope,  the 
grounds  spread  over  a  surface  of  about  fifteen  acres,  where  you 
see  patches  of  plantation,  a  speck  of  water  enlivened  by  some 
rare  poultry,  and  a  troop  of  sheep  graced  by  a  stag  and 
fawn.  Beyond  this,  the  view  stretches  away  up  a  rich  valley, 
and  then  far  on,  over  undulating  lands,  till,  in  the  distance,  the 
eye  catches  a  lofty  monument  at  Dursley,  some  twenty  miles 
away.  A  cottage  here  and  there  decks  the  green  fields, 
with  its  red  tiles  and  walls  of  shiny  white.  The  prospect 
convinces  you  that  nature  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  the  rough 
ness  of  the  neighbourhood.  The  residence  and  grounds  show, 
that  some  one  was  found  who  could  appreciate  the  advan- 
tages which  nature  offered. 

On  Wednesday  the  7th  of  May,  1851,  just  before  the 
village  clock  struck  twelve,  you  might  have  seen  a  strange, 
new  foreground  to  the  pleasant  picture  which  lies  in  front 
of  that  dwelling.  On  the  circular  pathway  before  the  door, 
about  two  hundred  men  stood  ranged  in  order,  two  by  two. 
Each  figure  was  clad  in  a  mourning  cloak,  each  hat  had  a 


THE   FUNERAL   GATHERING.  11 

funeral  band.  A  listless  look  you  did  not  see,  nor  a  head 
carried  thoughtlessly.  Those  at  the  rear  of  the  column 
were  only  boys  ;  before  these  were  youths  ;  and  so  advancing, 
till,  near  its  head,  you  found  grey-haired  men  ;  and  they  ap- 
peared the  saddest.  That  long  column, — black,  black,  all 
black, — did  look  deeply  mournful,  in  front  of  the  pleasant 
lawns  and  the  bright  Gloucestershire  valley,  in  their  May- 
day leaf  and  bloom.  The  head  of  the  column  stood  close 
by  the  portico  of  the  house.  A  bier  was  there.  A  single 
glance  would  have  told  a  stranger  all ; — the  master  of  the 
place  was  gone,  and  his  retainers  had  gathered  to  honour 
his  burial. 

Inside  the  gates,  everything  told  you  that  the  residence 
had  lost  its  master.  Outside,  everything  told  you  that  the 
village  had  lost  its  chief  man.  The  houses  had  their  blinds 
drawn  down  ;  the  shops  were  closed  ;  the  whole  population 
seemed  abroad  and  eager.  A  dense  crowd  stood  round  the 
gates  ;  and  all  along  the  road,  "  to  the  place  of  sepulchre," 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  more,  was  ranged  an  expecting 
throng.  Never  before,  though  familiar  with  Irish  funerals, 
had  I  witnessed  such  an  assembly  at  an  interment — at  least, 
never  but  once  ;  and  that  was  on  the  occasion  when  even  the 
volatile  heart  of  Paris  was  heavy  for  a  day,  while  her  whole 
-population  came  forth  to  follow  the  bier  of  those  who  had 
perished  in  the  frantic  battle  of  June,  1848. 

How  natural  it  is,  when  one  sees  a  funeral  indicating 
wealth  or  influence,  to  think  of  Southey's  forcible  piece,  and 
to  watch  among  the  attendants  for  tokens  of  the  place  the 
departed  held  in  their  hearts. 

"  These  mourners  here,  who  from  their  carriages 
Gape  at  the  gaping  crowd.     A  good  March  wind 
Were  to  be  pray'd  for  now,  to  lend  their  eyes 
Some  decent  rheum  ;  the  very  hireling  mute 


12  THE  CHAPEL. 

Beara  not  a  face  more  blank  of  all  emoli  >n 
Than  the  old  servant  of  the  family  1 
How  can  this  man  hare  lived,  that  thus  his  death 
Costa  not  the  soiling  one  white  handkerchief!" 

It  was  not  so  here.  As  you  looked  along  that  numerous 
"  following,"  from  the  men  that  bore  the  coffin  to  the  boya 
that  brought  up  the  distant  rear,  you  felt  that  it  was  not  a 
pageant,  but  a  mourning. 

The  procession  entered  a  spacious  chapel.  Every  nook 
was  soon  crowded,  and  a  surplus  throng  remained  without. 
While  the  solemn  service  was  read,  you  could  see,  among 
the  working  men  who  had  followed  the  bier,  many  a  coun- 
tenance very  deeply  shaded.  A  minister  then  addressed  the 
multitude.  He  spoke  of  the  deceased,  not  in  graceful  and 
balanced  eulogies,  but  with  a  gush  of  hearty  regard  that  was 
not  to  be  framed  up  and  gilded.  He  spoke  of  worth  and 
bounties  as  of  things  that  all  present  knew  as  well  as  he  ; 
and  as  he  spoke,  all  faces  gathered  feeling.  "  Those  hands," 
he  cried,  "  have  given  away  their  hundreds  upon  hundreds  ;" 
and  then,  perhaps,  you  seldom  saw  so  many  men  quite 
melted.  Many  an  eye  was  full,  and  many  an  eye  ran  over. 

Just  as  the  coffin  was  lowered  into  the  vault,  a  woman, 
standing  behind  me  in  the  crowd,  said,  "  Ah,  poor  man  !  hope 
he's  gone  happy !" 

"  Gone  happy  !"  replied  a  neighbour ;  "  if  lie  isn't  gone 
happy,  what  must  us  do  ?" 

Turning  away  with  the  slowly  retiring  crowd,  I  said  to  a 
woman,  "  Have  you  often  such  funerals  as  tkis  in  Kings- 
wood  ?"  She  looked  at  me  in  a  style  not  at  all  complimen- 
tary to  my  intelligence,  as  if  to  say.  "  Where  can  you  have 
spent  your  days,  to  ask  a  question  like  that  ?"  Then  ex- 
claiming with  special  emphasis,  "  Niver  !"  she  left  me  to 
better  my  information. 


WORDS   OF  THE  NEIGHBORS.  13 

Joining  a  poor  but  thoughtful-looking  man,  I  said,  u  This 
is  a  remarkable  funeral."  "  Yes,  sir  ;  such  a  one  as  we  never 
had  in  Kingswood  before."  Then,  pausing,  he  added,  sadly, 
"  The  best  man  in  Kingswood  gone  to-day  !" 

A  few  days  afterwards,  meeting  with  an  elderly  man, 
whom  I  had  seen  as  one  of  the  retinue  of  mourners,  I  asked 
him  if  he  had  not  been  in  the  employment  of  the  deceased 
merchant.  "  Yes,  sir,  for  seventeen  years."  Then  his 
countenance  flushed,  and  he  added,  "  Ah,  sir  !  a  great  man 
fallen  !"  I  coolly  observed  that  I  supposed  he  had  been  an 
important  man  in  the  neighbourhood.  "  In  the  neighbour- 
hood !"  replied  the  old  man,  "  there  wasn't  his  equal  in  all 
England.  No  tongue  can  ever  tell  all  that  man  did."  This 
man  was  about  sixty  years  of  age.  His  hair  was  grey  ;  and 
as  he  thus  spoke  of  his  late  master  to  a  perfect  stranger,  the 
tears  fell  fast. 

Ye  cotton  lords  and  corn  lords  !  that  would  be  no  un- 
worthy monument, — a  man  who  had  grown  grey  in  your  ser- 
vice, weeping  at  the  mention  of  your  name.  But  such  a 
monument  as  that,  like  a  Parian  monument,  costs  a  price 
It  never  comes  unbought.  And  it  must  be  paid  for  in  your 
own  lifetime,  and  with  your  own  hand.  Your  will,  or  your 
survivors,  may  secure  a  marble  that  will  droop  and  mourn 
over  your  grave  for  centuries  ;  but  if  you  would  have  a  few 
warm  tears  from  the  heart  of  a  poor  man,  neither  heir  nor 
will  can  buy  them.  "  Rarely,"  said  the  '  Bristol  Times  '  ot 
that  week,  "  has  a  neighbourhood  suffered  a  greater  loss  in 
the  death  of  a  man  than  Kingswood  in  the  decease  of  Mr. 
Budgett,  whose  charity  was  unbounded,  and  who  distributed 
with  discrimination  and  liberality,  and  without  ostentation, 
fully  £2,000  a  year  from  his  own  pocket." 

This  estimate  is  too  high  as  an  average,  whatever  may 
have- been  the  case  in  some  particular  year  ;  but  when  a  man 


14  THE   SCENE   OF   BUSINESS. 

is  thus  spoken  of  in  his  own  vicinity,  you  can  understand 
how  some  tears  should  fall  at  his  removal. 

And  who  was  this  man,  whose  death  moved  an  entire 
neighbourhood,  and  wrung  individual  hearts  ?  You  might 
often  have  seen  driving  into  Bristol,  a  man  under  the  middle 
size,  verging  towards  sixty,  wrapped  up  in  a  coat  of  deep 
olive,  with  grey  hair,  an  open  countenance,  a  quick  brown 
eye,  and  an  air  less  expressive  of  polish  than  of  push.  He 
drives  a  phaeton,  with  a  first-rate  horse,  at  full  speed.  He 
looks  as  if  he  had  work  to  do,  and  had  the  art  of  doing  it. 
On  the  way  he  overtakes  a  woman  carrying  a  bundle.  In 
an  instant  the  horse  is  reined  up  by  her  side,  and  a  voice  of 
contagious  promptitude  tells  her  to  put  up  her  bundle  and 
mount.  The  voice  communicates  to  the  astonished  pedes- 
trian its  own  energy.  She  is  forthwith  seated,  and  away 
dashes  the  phaeton.  In  a  few  minutes  the  stranger  is  deposit- 
ed in  Bristol,  with  the  present  of  some  pretty  little  book, 
and  the  phaeton  hastes  on  to  Nelson  Street.  There  it  turns 
into  the  archway  of  an  immense  warehouse.  "  Here,  boy  ; 
take  my  horse,  take  my  horse  !"  It  is  the  voice  of  the  head 
of  the  firm.  The  boy  flies.  The  master  passes  through  the 
offices  as  if  he  had  three  days'  work  to  do.  Yet  his  eye 
notes  everything.  He  reaches  his  private  office.  He  takes 
from  his  pocket  a  memorandum-book,  on  which  he  has  set 
down,  in  order,  the  duties  of  the  day.  A  boy  waits  at  the 
door.  He  glances  at  his  book,  and  orders  his  boy  to  call  a 
clerk.  The  clerk  is  there  promptly,  and  receives  his  instruc- 
tions in  a  moment.  "  Now,  what  is  the  next  thing  ?"  asks 
the  master,  glancing  at  his  memorandum.  Again  the  boy  is 
on  the  wing,  and  another  clerk  appears.  He  is  soon  dis- 
missed. "  Now,  what  is  the  next  thing?"  again  looking  at 
the  memorandum.  At  the  c&ll  of  the  messenger,  a  young 
man  now  approaches  the  office  door.  He  is  a  "  traveller  ;" 
but  notwithstanding  the  habitual  push  and  self-possession 


THE   PEIVATB   OFFICE.  15 

of  his  class,  he  evidently  is  approaching  his  employer  with 
reluctance  and  embarrassment.  He  almost  pauses  at  the 
entrance.  And  now  that  he  is  face  to  face  with  the  strict 
man  of  business,  he  feels  much  confused.  "  Well,  what's 
the  matter?  I  understand  you  can't  make  your  cash  quite 
right." 

"  No,  Sir." 

"  How  much  are  you  short  ?" 

"  Eight  pounds,  sir." 

"  Never  mind ;  I  am  quite  sure  you  have  done  what 
is  right  and  honourable.  It  is  some  mistake  ;  and  you  won't 
let  it  happen  again.  Take  this  and  make  your  account 
straight." 

The  young  man  takes  the  proffered  paper.  Ho  sees  an 
order  for  ten  pounds  ;  and  retires  as  full  of  admiration  as 
he  had  approached  full  of  anxiety. 

"  Now,  what  is  the  next  thing  ?"  This  time  a  porter  is 
summoned.  He  comes  forward  as  if  he  expected  rebuke. 
"  Oh  !  I  have  got  such  a  complaint  reported  against  you. 
You  know  that  will  never  do.  You  must  not  let  that  occur 
again." 

Thus,  with  incredible  dispatch,  matter  after  matter  is 
settled,  and  all  who  leave  that  office  go  to  their  work  as  if 
some  one  had  oiled  all  their  joints. 

At  another  time,  you  find  the  master  passing  through 
the  warehouse.  Here,  his  quick  glance  descries  a  man  who 
is  moving  drowsily,  and  he  says  a  sharp  word  that  makes 
him,  in  a  moment,  nimble.  There,  he  sees  another  blunder 
ing  at  his  work.  He  had  no  idea  that  the  master's  eye  was 
upon  him,  till  he  finds  himself  suddenly  supplanted  at  the 
job.  In  a  trice,  it  is  done  ;  and  his  master  leaves  him  to 
digest  the  stimulant.  Now,  a  man-  comes  up  to  tell  him  of 
some  plan  he  has  in  his  mind,  for  improving  something  in  his 
own  department  of  the  business.  "  Yes,  thank  you,  that's  a 


16  WOKTH   OF  FIVE  MINUTES. 

good  idea ;"  and  putting  half-a-crown  into  his  band,  he  passes 
on.  In  another  place  he  finds  a  man  idling.  You  can  soon 
sec,  that  of  all  spectacles  this  is  the  one  least  to  his  mind. 
"  It  you  waste  five  minutes,  that  is  not  much  ;  but  probably 
if  you  waste  five  minutes  yourself,  you  lead  some  one  else  to 
waste  five  minutes,  and  that  makes  ten.  If  a  third  follow 
your  example,  that  makes  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Now, 
there  are  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  of  us  here  ;  and  if  every 
one  wasted  five  minutes  in  a  day,  what  would  it  come  to  ? 
Let  me  see.  Why,  it  would  be  fifteen  hours  ;  and  fifteen 
hours  a  day  would  be  ninety  hours,  about  eight  days,  work- 
ing time,  in  a  week  ;  and  in  a  year,  would  be  four  hundred 
days.  Do  you  think  we  could  ever  stand  waste  like  that  ?" 
The  poor  loiterer  is  utterly  confounded.  He  had  no  idea  of 
eating  up  fifteen  hours,  much  less  four  hundred  days,  of  his 
good  employer's  time  ;  and  he  never  saw  before  how  fast  five 
minutes  could  be  multiplied. 

Turning  from  this  energetic  merchant  to  the  establish- 
ment of  which  he  is  the  head,  you  are  astonished  at  its  magni- 
tude and  order.  "  What  business  do  you  call  yours  ?"  would 
be  your  natural  inquiry.  "  General  Provision  Merchants." 
And,  verily,  they  do  seem  bent  on  making  general  provision. 
The  warehouse  is  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  by  three 
hundred  and  fifty  at  its  greatest  depth.  You  pass  from  office 
to  office,  from  yard  to  yard,  from  loft  to  loft,  and  from  loft  to 
cellar,  till  you  wonder  how  all  this  has  been  brought  under 
one  roof.  Then  you  arc  led  across  the  street  to  commence  a 
similar  process  on  a  smaller  scale,  in  a  bonded  warehouse. 
Even  though  you  have  travelled  a  good  deal,  you  may  find 
the  tour  of  that  warehouse  a  curious  and  instructive  journey. 
Here  you  come  upon  a  region  of  loaf  sugar,  where  it  is 
stored  up,  pile  upon  pile,  as  if  seven  years  of  saccharine 
famine  had  been  foretold.  There  you  light  upon  a  tract  of 
sugar  tierces,  before  which  you  cease  to  wonder  at  the  piles 


THE   DEPARTMENTS.  17 

of  loaf.  "  What !"  you  say  to  yourself,  "  are  all  these 
tierces  to  be  melted  away  in  tea-cups  ?"  Then,  thinking  such 
masses  must  move  off  slowly,  you  ask,  "  How  much  does 
each  tierce  weigh  ?" 

"  Ten  hundred  weight." 
"  And  do  you  sell  many  of  them  whole  ?" 
"We  sold  two  hundred  and  fifty  last  week." 
Here,  you  come  upon  a  territory  overgrown  with  tea- 
chests  ;  there,  upon  a  colony  of  casks  replenished  with  nut- 
megs, cassia,  and  all  spicery.  Again,  you  are  environed  with 
piled-up  boxes  of  fruit ;  then,  with  a  vast  snowy  region  of 
flour.  Presently,  you  are  in  a  land  of  coffee ;  then,  in  a 
realm  where  treacle  reigns  alone,  parading  itself  in  hogs- 
head after  hogshead,  and  dozens  of  hogsheads,  till  you  see 
there  is  more  treacle  in  the  world  than  you  ever  thought  be- 
fore. Now,  you  are  wandering  in  a  wilderness  of  cheeses  ; 
then,  on  lofts  which  groan  under  mountains  of  peas.  Here,' 
tobacco  abounds ;  there,  bacon.  And,  as  if  to  mock  your 
surprise  at  the  large  store  of  articles  which  rank  among  the 
necessaries  of  life,  you  find  a  heap  of  canary-seed,  which,  in 
a  barn,  would  look  respectable  for  a  heap  of  corn.  As  you 
prosecute  your  journey,  here  you  are  in  stables  with  stalls 
for  forty  or  fifty  horses ;  there,  in  a  carpenter's  shop  ;  again, 
amongst  a  band  of  coopers.  Below,  you  find  a  troop  of  wag- 
goners, lading  their  capacious  carts,  and  marching  off  to  dis- 
tribute the  contents  to  steamboats  and  railways,  in  an  array 
that  would  do  no  discredit  to  a  military  commissariat.  In 
one  office  (through  which  you  must  needs  pass  to  get  into 
the  warehouse),  you  have  a  clerk  whose  business  is  simply  to 
learn  your  errand,  and  to  direct  you  accordingly.  In  ano- 
ther, you  have  a  salesman,  surrounded  by  all  manner  of 
samples,  and  cheerfully  at  the  service  of  any  customer  for 
cash.  In  another  set  of  offices  you  have  a  large  array  of 
clerks.  In  each  department  you  find  a  head  man,  with  his 


18  -HOUE8. 

troop  under  him.  Here,  they  are  breaking  up  tierces  of 
sugar,  and  mixing  the  different  kinds.  There,  they  are 
weighing  flour.  In  this  corner,  you  find  a  man  before  a 
solid  heap  of  currants,  which  stubbornly  retains  the  form  of 
the  cask,  belabouring  it  with  an  instrument  uncommonly 
like  a  fork  in  a  stable  yard.  Here,  they  are  with  an  order 
book,  making  up  the  items  of  an  order.  There,  they  are 
weighing  and  packing.  In  a  central  position,  an  inspector 
is  placed  in  a  counting-house  glazed  on  all  sides,  from  which 
he  can  look  out  on  the  whole  stream  of  business,  as  it  passes 
to  and  fro.  In  another  place  you  find  a  monster  coffee- 
roaster  in  full  play.  Again,  you  are  in  a  room  where  some 
have  dozen  kinds  of  tea  are  ready  to  be  tasted  by  one  of  the 
principals.  Presently,  you  light  upon  a  band  who  are  hid- 
den behind  a  drapery  of  flour  bags,  and,  thus  secluded,  are 
repairing  such  bags  as  have  suffered  in  the  service.  Near 
these,  you  see  three  boys  seated  at  an  anvil,  hammering  old 
nails  straight.  This,  you  are  told,  is  one  of  the  first  steps 
in  the  establishment.  On  entering,  a  boy  is  set  to  this 
work.  If  diligent  here,  he  is  promoted  to  serve  under  the 
master  bagmender.  If  he  do  well  there,  he  is  made  a  mes- 
senger. And  then,  his  future  position  in  the  house  depends 
entirely  on  his  ability  and  application.  "  But,"  you  are  very 
likely  to  ask,  "  what  are  these  old  nails,  which  the  boys  are 
beating  straight?" 

"  0 !  they  are  the  old  nails  picked  up  about  the  con- 
cern." 

u  And  are  there  old  nails  enough  picked  up  about  the 
concern  to  keep  three  boys  employed  ?" 

"  Not  constantly." 

As  you  pass  through  the  different  scenes  of  labour,  you 
find  the  men  moving  with  great  regularity.  Every  one  is  at 
work,  yet  there  is  no  haste.  You  receive  an  impression  of 
activity,  rather  than  of  bustle.  You  naturally  inquire, 
"  What  are  your  hours  of  business  ?" 


THE  WORKMEN.  19 

"  The  men  come  at  six ;  some  of  the  clerks  at  half-past 
seven.  We  leave  just  when  we  have  done ;  the  clerks  about 
four ;  the  porters  at  from  five  to  half-past." 

"'When  you  have  done  ;'  what  do  you  mean  by  that  ?" 

"  We  always  do  the  day's  work  within  the  day ;  and  we 
are  at  liberty  to  leave  when  it  is  done." 

You  would,  perhaps,  wish  to  know  more  about  this  doing 
the  day's  work  within  the  day ;  but  for  that  you  must  wait 
till  we  reach  another  chapter.  At  present,  we  are  only  look- 
ing round  the  premises  and  gathering  general  impressions. 

In  such  an  establishment  one  naturally  observes  the  men, 
to  form  an  idea  of  their  health,  their  character,  and  their  posi- 
tion as  to  comfort.  That  part  of  one's  survey  is  often  painful 
enough.  In  many  a  prosperous  cotton  or  woollen  factory,  you 
see  every  thing  which,  to  an  expert  eye,  tells  of  ill-health  in  some, 
disorderly  habits  in  others,  wretched  homes  in  a  third  class ; 
and  in  particular  individuals,  the  whole  of  these  evils  unmis- 
takably meet,  for  the  air,  the  eye,  the  gait,  the  complexion, 
and  the  attire,  record  them  as  clearly  as  the  most  expressive 
pen.  In  great  iron  works,  how  painfully  an  observer  feels 
that  some  of  those  brave  and  brawny  fellows,  who  are  per- 
forming such  herculean  labours  for  the  general  good,  are 
sinking  prematurely  under  the  twin  effects  of  fire  and  intoxi- 
cation. In  some  of  the  arsenals  whence  issue  our  matchless 
Sheffield  wares,  how  sad  to  look  on  those  busy  frames  whose 
life  is  plainly  wasting.  In  some  of  the  mining  districts  of 
Cornwall,  it  is  touching  to  observe  how  few  old  men  are  to 
be  found  in  a  crowd ;  and  to  see  here  and  there  a  brave 
young  miner  bearing  fearful  tokens  of  underground  accident. 
In  the  metropolitan  warehouses,  how  often  does  the  eye  turn 
Bad  over  a  countenance  where  decay  is  appearing,  or  where 
dissipation  is  recorded.  In  all  these  spheres,  happily,  one 
may  often  trace  proofs  that  masters  are  attentive  to  the 
well-being  of  those  who  labour  under  their  eye.  In  many 


20  HIVES   OF  INDUSTRY. 

cases,  late  years  have  witnessed  great  advancement,  both  in 
comfort  and  in  morals.  But  still,  in  such  scenes  of  indus- 
try, there  is  often  enough  to  make  one  mourn  over  the  lot 
of  those  who  are  serving  us  all.  You  have  seen  hives  of 
labour  whence  much  sweet  gain  accrued,  but  one  was  little 
tempted  to  envy  him  into  whose  storehouse  it  came ;  for,  to 
secure  the  honey,  so  many  of  the  bees  are  sacrificed.  Ye 
that  are  able  to  direct  those  who  are  only  able  to  toil,  ye 
have  a  right  to  goodly  gain ;  but  when  you  count  your  in- 
crease, forget  not  those  by  whose  weary  labours  you  were 
enabled  to  carry  out  your  plans.  Think  what  you  can  do 
for  their  health,  their  homes,  their  intellect,  and  their  souls. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  go  through  a  stirring  house  of 
manufacture,  or  of  commerce,  and  see  clean  attire,  healthy 
complexions,  and  cheerful  looks.  Sometimes,  one  is  agree- 
ably surprised  to  find  out  how  far  this  is  the  case,  even  when 
the  occupation  and  the  atmosphere  are  very  unfriendly.  But 
the  great  warehouse  in  Nelson-street,  Bristol,  is  exempt 
from  the  difficulties  which  some  kinds  of  business  present  to 
cleanliness,  cheerfulness,  and  health.  There  you  see  scarcely 
a  face  that  raises  a  suspicion  of  drunken  or  disorderly 
habits ;  scarcely  an  attire  but  seems  comfortable,  according 
to  the  grade.  You  meet  with  many  whose  mien  tells  you 
explicitly,  that  they  are  thoughtful,  intelligent  men.  And 
several  who  pass  in  white  apron  and  cap,  strike  you  at  once 
as  having  the  expression  that  indicates  a  mind  to  which  the 
comforts  and  the  virtue  of  piety  are  habitual.  And  keep  your 
ear  open  as  you  may,  you  will  not  catch  an  oath  or  an  un- 
seemly word. 

In  your  course  round  the  premises,  you  meet  with  one 
large  room,  which  contains  no  merchandise,  and  has  no  air 
of  business.  A  large  range  of  neat  forms  are  its  solo 
contents,  except  a  table  at  the  head.  On  the  table,  lie 
"  Fletcher's  Family  Devotion,"  and  "  Wesley's  Hymns." 
**  What,"  you  ask,  in  some  doubt,  "  what  is  this  place  ?" 


THE   BUSINESS   CHAPEL.  21 

"  This  is  our  chapel.  A  large  number  of  men  breakfast 
on  the  premises  ;  and  before  breakfast,  half  an  hour  is  al- 
lowed for  family  worship.  Then  the  men  assemble  here  for 
that  purpose." 

Fhmily  worship  here !  you  are  ready  to  exclaim ;  surely 
it  would  be  wise  and  good,  if  a  family  feeling  could  be  shed 
over  such  a  vast  establishment,  and  the  hearts  of  the  men 
be  saved  from  feeling,  in  the  haste  of  business,  that  all  rela- 
tions but  those  of  commerce  were  forgotten.  Some  sacred 
link  ought  surely  to  hallow  the  intercourse  of  those  whose 
lot  .it  is,  day  after  day,  to  toil  side  by  side.  How  often  it 
seems  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that  when  the  business  of  a 
day  is  begun,  in  a  large  concern,  all  family  scenes  and  all 
religious  thoughts  must  wait  till  the  day  is  over  ! 

The  morning  after  Mr.  Budgett's  funeral,  I  was  in  the 
warehouse  before  half-past  seven  o'clock.  The  various  de- 
partments were  in  full  play,  and  the  waggoners  packing  their 
loads.  At  the  half  hour,  the  bell  rang.  I  went  into  the 
'chapel.  It  was  soon  filled  with  the  men  in  their  working 
dress.  About  eighty  assembled.  A  son  of  the  deceased 
principal  sat  at  the  table.  He  took  up  "  Fletcher's  Family 
Devotion,"  and  read  the  portion  of  Scripture  appointed  for 
the  8th  of  May,  with  the  accompanying  reflections.  The 
passage  is  that  which  records  the  wish  of  the  daughters  of 
Zelophehad.  The  reflections  seemed  as  if  they  had  been 
framed  on  purpose  to  follow  the  memorable  scene  in  which 
they  had  all  acted  a  part  yesterday ;  turning  upon  the  duty 
of  honouring  the  memory  of  the  departed. 

The  young  merchant,  himself  affected  by  the  circum- 
stances, and  by  the  coincidence  of  such  a  lesson  coming  on 
that  particular  morning,  addressed  the  men  in  a  few  words 
of  cordial,  Christian  advice.  He  then  gave  out  a  hymn, 
which  was  heartily  sung.  Next,  he  called  upon  one  of  them, 
by  name,  to  pray.  All  knelt  down,  and  the  man  prayed, 


22  TILE  MERCANTILE  MONUMENT. 

with  fervour  and  solemnity,  for  spiritual  blessings  to  them 
all ;  for  comfort  to  the  bereaved  family ;  and  for  the  busi- 
ness, that  God  might  make  it  prosper.  When  he  ceased, 
the  young  master  took  up  the  strain ;  and  thus  men  and 
master  unitedly  worshipped  the  great  Disposer,  who  appoints 
the  lot  of  all  About  half  an  hour  was  spent  in  this  reli- 
gious service.  Little  would  a  man  of  the  world  think,  in 
watching  the  vast  trade  going  forward  within  those  walls, 
and  the  vigour  with  which  the  whole  machine  moves,  that 
time  is  daily  found  to  pause  and  hearken  to  a  voice  from  the 
unerring  Guide,  and  bow  down  to  call  for  blessings  from  the 
hand  that  can  make  everything  to  speed.  And  think  you 
that  those  daily  prayers  have  had  no  part  in  the  rapid 
growth  and  healthy  action  of  that  establishment  ? 

You  naturally  ask  if  one  of  the  family  always  takes  the 
lead  in  this  act  of  "  family  prayer."  "  Oh  !  no  ;  not  always 
— if  any  of  them  are  here  ;  but  if  not,  it  goes  on  all  the 
same.  We  have  a  regular  plan,  by  which  a  certain  number 
of  the  pious  men  take  it  in  turn,  two  every  morning." 

Such  is  the  establishment  of  which  Mr.  Budgett  was  the 
head.  It  stands  there  his  monument.  Its  proportions  re- 
cord the  extent  of  his  views ;  its  order,  his  power  to  syste- 
matise ;  its  prompt  and  rapid  action,  his  vigour ;  its  moral 
tone,  his  piety.  Thirty  years  ago,  he  was  admitted  a  part- 
ner in  a  retail  shop  in  a  country  village.  Now,  he  has  left 
what  a  local  paper  calls  "  the  largest  business  in  the  West 
of  England,  and  one  which  turns  nearer  millions  than 
thousands  in  the  course  of  the  year."  It  does  not  turn 
"  millions."  Its  returns,  in  one  year,  are  not  a  million, 
perhaps  not  quite  three-quarters  of  a  million.  But  that, 
mark  !  is  all  brought  in  by  a  system  of  prompt  payment 
No  bills ;  all  cash.  The  rule  in  that  great  establishment 
is,  that  all  purchases  made  within  the  month  are  paid  for  at 
the  end  of  the  month. 


BTOCK   TAKING.  23 

Such  returns !  such  a  stock !  such  a  number  of  hands ! 
You  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  What  a  business  stock-taking 
must  be  !  How  long  does  it  occupy  ?  " 

"  At  twelve  o'clock  on  a  certain  day  we  stop  business ; 
and,  before  twelve  at  night,  the  stock  is  taken,  the  balance 
struck,  and  the  principals  in  their  beds  at  Kingswood  or  at 
Clifton." 

What  was  the  history  of  the  man  who  has  left  us  such  a 
monument  ? 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE     BORN     MERCHANT. 

"Still  let  thy  mind  be  bent,  still  plotting  when, 
And  when,  and  bow,  the  business  may  be  done." 

llEKBIRT. 

COMMERCE  is  not  one  of  the  Muses.  A  bargain  is  not  so 
beautiful  a  thing  as  a  poem,  an  oratorio,  a  picture,  or  a 
flight  of  eloquence.  Yet  the  bargain  holds  no  mean  place 
in  the  framework  of  this  present  world.  It  is  the  first  ma- 
terial bond  of  human  society.  By  it,  the  individual  acquires 
what  he  could  not  produce,  and  is  relieved  of  what  ho  could 
not  employ.  By  it,  the  best  fruits  of  a  skill  possessed  by 
one  alone  are  distributed  throughout  the  community ;  and 
the  one,  in  serving  the  community,  is  advancing  himself. 
By  it,  nation  is  linked  with  nation  in  a  thousand  beneficial 
connexions.  By  it,  the  dissimilar  produce  of  climates  lying 
wide  apart  meet  in  a  single  home  ;  the  temperate  zone  ga- 
thering winter  comfort  from  the  pole,  and  summer  luxury 
from  the  equator.  Much  as  we  should  regret  the  departure 
from  our  world  of  the  poem,  the  picture,  or  the  oration,  that 
would  not  leave  mankind  so  utterly  at  a  loss  as  the  departure 
of  the  less  beautiful  bargain.  Without  it,  we  could  never 
behold  a  shop,  a  public  conveyance,  a  factory,  a  ship,  a  rail- 
way, or  an  extensive  town. 

"  The  Iliad  for  War,"  cries  the  author  of  '  Friends   in 


COMMERCE   AND   POETRY.  25 

Council,'  and  the  Odyssey  for  wandering ;  but  where  is  the 
great  domestic  epic  ? "  A  very  fit  question.  And  where  is 
the  great  commercial  epic  ?  Arms,  agriculture,  love,  travel, 
and  adventure,  all  have  had  their  ample  offerings  of  song ; 
but,  in  spite  of  Dyer's  '  Fleece,'  and  Grainger's  {  Sugar  Cane,' 
and  Phillips'  '  Cyder,'  with  minor  attempts  to  give  commerce 
a  poetic  status,  it.  has  thus  far  held  on  its  course  in  the  world 
without  any  notable  obligation  to  the  lyre.  Any  subject, 
in  its  vulgar  aspect,  appears  below  the  dignity  and  interest 
of  poetry ;  but  once  that  it  has  been  seen  by  the  eye  of  the 
poet,  and  that  his  numbers  have  set  it  forth,  all  will  recog- 
nise its  higher  aspects.  Commerce,  in  its  petty  details,  is 
very  far  from  poetry ;  so  is  a  brigade  of  recruits  on  drill, 
lifting  up  and  setting  down  first  one  foot  and  then  the  other, 
as  the  sergeant  cries,  "  Left !  right ! — left !  right !  "  But 
commerce,  on  the  grand  scale,  is  connected  with  the  chief 
events  of  history,  with  all  the  noted  terrestrial  discoveries, 
all  the  scenes  of  nature,  all  the  spheres  of  enterprise,  all 
the  triumphs  of  invention,  all  the  manners  of  the  nations. 
It  is  by  the  light  of  Commerce  that,  far  away  on  the  misty 
frontier  of  history,  we  first  catch  sight  of  Phoenicia,  career- 
ing on  the  ancient  seas ;  of  Greece,  receiving  her  colonies 
%nd  her  lights ;  of  Carthage,  spreading  enterprise  around 
the  West ;  of  Ancient  Britain,  emerging  out  of  the  unknown, 
and  holding-  in  her  hand,  as  her  modest  contribution  to  the 
common  stoue  of  mankind,  a  goodly  supply  of  tin.  It  is 
Commerce  that  first  tells  us  of  bright  rich  lands  in  the  dis- 
tant East,  beyond  the  range  of  western  politics  and  wars; 
that  brings  thence  gem,  and  spice,  and  silky  robe,  which,  to 
northern  eyes,  look  as  if  they  came  from  some  strange  realm 
of  light ;  that,  displaying  these,  stirs  up  her  first-born  off- 
'  spring,  Enterprise,  to  stretch  her  flight  for  their  native 
lands ;  that,  at  length,  placing  Enterprise  on  her  own  wings, 
bears  her  across  the  wide  Atlantic,  and  lets  her  gaze  on  a 


26  COMMERCE   AND  NATURE. 

new  continent ;  then,  carrying  her  round  the  African  Cape, 
unfolds  the  real  scene  whence  the  great  excitement  came— • 
the  Taprobane,  the  Golden  Chcrsonesus,  the  lands  of  cinna- 
mon and  peacocks ;  of  pearl,  ivory,  and  diamond ;  of  muslin, 
sandalwood,  and  silk.  It  is  Commerce  which  presides  at 
the  inauguration  of  the  new  age,  when  Europe  founds  em- 
pires beyond  the  sea,  and  east  and  west  meet  together  in 
new  rivalries  and  friendships,  till  the  devotees  of  trade  cover 
every  eminence  of  Columbia  with  foreign  standards,  and 
transfer  the  gorgeous  realm  of  the  Great  Mogul  to  masters 
who  confess  the  creed  of  the  Nazarene.  And,  sweeping  her 
course  from  Tadmor  to  St.  Francisco,  what  magic  commu- 
nities spring  up  in  her  train !  Solomon's  fair  city,  in  the 
wilderness ;  the  queenly  daughter  of  Alexander,  by  the 
mouths  of  the  Nile  j  Venice,  emerging  from  the  flat  isles  of 
the  Po,  beyond  the  range  of  the  barbarians  who  then  over- 
swept  all  Italy's  ancient  glory  ;  Bussorah,  springing  up  by 
the  Tigris,  under  auspices  of  the  Crescent ;  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, rising  out  of  the  sea,  gathering  the  wealth  of  the 
Eastern  Archipelago,  striking  down  the  banner  of  Spain, 
and  lifting  up  the  paralysed  arm  of  Protestant  England  ; 
the  city  of  Clive  and  Hastings,  by  the  ancient  Ganges  ;  with 
wonders  endless,  on  the  bays  and  streams  of  yonder  new 
world,  and  here,  in  our  Lancashire  vales,  on  our  Yorkshire 
hills,  or  in  the  districts  where  the  great  wise  Hand  has 
stored  up  our  iron  and  our  coal. 

Again,  her  course  amid  the  paths  of  nature  is  not  lesa 
wonderful  than  among  those  of  history.  Now  she  is  over- 
whelmed in  the  simoom,  now  refreshed  on  the  oasis ;  now 
hemmed  in  by  the  icebergs,  now  drenched  by  the  water- 
spout ;  now  lashed  by  the  monsoon,  now  enchained  by  the 
oalm ;  now  steadily  wafted  by  the  trade-wind,  now  broken 
upon  the  rock ;  now  joyfully  riding  in  the  haven,  now  away 
on  the  open  main,  where  sky  and  sea  alone  can  meet  her 


HER  FEATS   AND   HER   STEEDS.  27 

eye ;  now  hasting  through  the  hollow  tunnel,  where  cloud, 
and  tree,  and  wave  are  alike  unseen ;  now  chasing  an  invi- 
sible land  by  the  mysterious  track  of  the  magnet ;  now 
reading  in  the  conjunction,  the  transit,  the  eclipse,  or  the 
culminating  sun,  her  instructions  how  to  travel  upon  earth. 

And  all  the  feats  whereof  poetic  rapture  ever  sang  are 
surely  to  be  matched  by  those  which  are  dally  displayed  in 
the  service  of  Commerce.  The  huntsman  chasing  tiger, 
elephant,  lion,  bear,  ostrich  and  kangaroo ;  the  diver  seeking 
pearl ;  the  fisherman  vanquishing  the  whale ;  the  miner  un- 
doing the  bolts  and  bars  of  nature's  treasure  vaults ;  the 
mariner  wrestling  with  both  wind  and  sea ;  the  engineer 
scooping  the  hill  or  spanning  the  strait ;  the  caravan  daring 
the  sands ;  the  fleet  braving  the  waters ;  the  bullock-train 
encountering  the  kloof;  and  all  that  ancient  poets  could 
find  to  originate  ideas  of  Cyclops  and  supernatural  powers, 
was  little  to  the  flaming  wonders  of  one  night's  survey  from 
Dudley  Castle,  or  one  day's  study  of  the  magic  hives  of 
Manchester. 

Then,  Commerce  mounts  her  upon  every  steed  ;  now  on 
the  camel,  patient  as  a  thing  inanimate ;  now  on  the  ship, 
active  as  a  thing  of  life,  with  canvas  wing  and  magnet  scent ; 
now  on  the  fleet  horse,  now  on  the  drowsy  buffalo  ;  now  on 
the  toiling  wain,  now  on  the  flying  engine ;  now  on  the 
steadfast  mule,  now  on  the  quivering  steam-boat ;  now  she 
follows  the  fleet  foot  of  the  reindeer,  now  loiters  on  the  dank 
canal ;  now  skims  in  the  slight  canoe,  now  rolls  in  the  thun- 
dering train  ;  now  whirrs  on  the  wing  of  the  carrier-pigeon, 
now  clings  to  the  writhing  catamaran. 

Commerce,  too,  haft  done  much  toward  fulfilling  its  mis- 
sion. It  was  ordained  to  bind  man  to  man,  province  to  pro- 
vince, and  nation  to  nation,  by  the  solid  tie  of  common 
interests.  "  Had  all  nations  found  at  home  every  thing 
necessary  and  agreeable,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  to  what 


23  THE  MISSION  OP  COMMERCE. 

extent  their  mutual  alienation  might  have  proceeded.  China 
and  Japan  help  us  to  an  idea  of  that  which,  in  such  a  case, 
would  have  constituted  nationality."  But  God  gave  each 
individual  a  relish  for  all  that  is  charming  in  creation,  yet 
distributed  the  productions  which  all  enjoy  over  the  various 
zones  of  earth.  Consequently,  if  the  people  of  one  land 
would  partake  of  all  they  coveted,  it  was  necessary  to  know 
and  to  deal  with  the  people  of  other  lands.  Thence  came 
that  interchange  of  services  by  which  we  now  see  the  bever- 
age of  Englishmen  depending  on  the  rains  in  China,  the 
wealth  of  many  a  Chinese  on  the  markets  of  England,  the 
bread  of  many  a  family  in  Manchester  on  the  weather  of 
Carolina,  the  comfort  of  many  a  home  in  Leeds  on  the  sheep 
of  the  Cape  and  Australia,  the  welfare  of  many  a  Spanish 
vine-grower  on  the  rents  of  the  English  squire,  the  value  of 
Norwegian  pine  on  a  vote  at  St.  Stephen's,  the  prosperity 
of  the  Russian  hemp-grower  on  the  prosperity  of  England, 
and  the  robes  of  the  Swedish  ladies  on  the  silk-worms  of  the 
south.  Commerce  is  the  appointed  medium  for  making  that 
universal  in  benefit  which  is  local  in  production ;  for  pre- 
serving in  men  a  sense  of  dependence  upon  other  men  ;  and 
thus,  for  giving  the  most  favoured  nations  a  knowledge  of 
the  condition  of  others,  an  interest  in  their  welfare,  and  a 
facility  for  that  intercourse  by  which  they  may  teach  and 
elevate.  It  is  not  a  spiritual  or  sentimental  tie  ;  but  a  ma- 
terial bond — a  chain  of  gold,  by  which  the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence has  linked  the  interests  of  all  men  in  a  connexion 
which  the  most  carnai  eye  may  see  ;  but  which,  when  recog- 
nised, tends  to  facilitate  all  the  errands  of  Christianity 
among  the  nations.  It  was  through  Commerce  that  Carey 
and  Swartz  were  enabled  to  know  India,  and  to  reach  it ; 
that  Morrison  had  his  path  made  to  China ;  that  the  Fetish 
tree  of  Guinea  and  the  Kraal  of  South  Africa  were  laid 
open  to  the  eye  of  Christian  pity ;  that  the  heart  of  zeal 


COMMERCIAL   BIOGRAPHY.  29 

was  told  of  cannibal  feasts  in  New  Zealand,  and  infant  mur- 
der in  the  Polynesian  isles.  Of  old,  we  see  her  ships  and 
her  dromedaries  bearing  the  gold  and  the  gems  of  the  rich- 
est lands,  to  lay  them  as  her  offering  at  the  gate  of  God's 
glorious  temple  on  Zion.  Thus  may  she  be  seen  often  twin- 
ing ties  of  international  amity ;  cften  calling  forth  the  en- 
lightened to  teach  the  dark ;  and  now  convening  all  earth's 
tribes  under  one  pure  dome  of  crystal.  But  often,  too,  she 
appears  perverted  from  her  purpose ;  stirring  man  against 
man  with  a  pitiless  rivalry ;  rousing  nation  against  nation, 
for  lucre ;  letting  loose  all  the  bloodhounds  of  war;  and, 
alas !  alas  !  the  whole  curse  of  the  slave-yell  falls  upon  her 
head,  the  whole  blood  of  the  slave  trade  lies  upon  her  skirts. 
Surely,  if  Commerce  could  find  her  poet,  the  poet  could  find 
his  materials.  Yet,  we  have  no  commercial  epic  ! 

And  what  is  far  more  wonderful  in  a  "  nation  of  shop- 
keepers," we  have  no  commercial  biography.  Our  power 
abroad,  our  quiet  at  home,  the  stability  of  our  government, 
the  security  of  our  towns,  the  value  of  ouj  crops,  are  all  so 
dependent  upon  commerce,  that,  nationally,  it  is  our  first 
interest  and  our  leading  characteristic.  Our  merchants  have 
been  a  race  of  vast  endeavour,  and  incredible  achievement. 
They  have  built  up  a  fabric  that  astounds  us  all,  and  our 
neighbours  more  than  us.  They  have  had,  in  their  indi- 
vidual careers,  the  most  wondrous  vicissitudes,  the  highest 
romance  of  real  life.  They  have  ever  furnished  the  noblest, 
the  meanest,  the  most  unaccountable,  the  most  exemplary,  the 
most  eccentric  specimens  of  character.  Many  of  them  have 
influenced  contemporary  history  more  than  reigning  prince* ; 
many  of  them  have  displayed  more  comical  peculiarities 
than  the  queerest  oddity  of  fiction.  There  is  scarce  a  town 
of  note,  to  which  some  one  of  the  race  has  not  bequeathed 
a  tradition  of  wonderful  success,  accompanied  by  hated  par- 
simony, by  envied  sumptuousness,  or  by  benevolence  univer 


30  BUSINESS   AND   BIOGRAPHERS. 

sally  extolled.  Here,  you  have  a  mansion  and  park ;  there, 
a  set  of  aluishouses ;  yonder,  a  church  or  school ;  each  with 
its  short  but  pregnant  tale  of  a  remarkable  man.  Yet,  with 
such  a  race  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  such  tokens  of  what  they 
have  been  doing,  we  seek  in  vain  for  the  Lives  of  the  British 
Merchants.  Booksellers  look  uncommonly  wise  when  you 
ask  for  a  volume  of  commercial  biography.  Johnnun  has 
taken  care  of  the  poets  ;  Allan  Cunninghame  of  the  artists ; 
Campbell  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  :  but  no  one  has  thought 
of  the  Lord  Mayors ;  except,  indeed,  that  worthy  scribe  who 
regaled  our  childhood  with  the  pleasant  story  of  "  Whitting- 
ton  and  his  Cat."  Divines,  orators,  men  of  science,  of  let- 
ters, of  art,  statesmen,  generals,  admirals,  yea,  even  play- 
actors, have  abounded  in  biographers;  but  the  men  who 
have  reared  factories  more  costly  than  a  castle,  who  have 
given  bread  to  more  men  than  an  ancient  chieftain  led  out 
to  war,  who  have  created  fleets  that  are  sailing  under  every 
sky,  who  have  raised  an  entire  neighbourhood  from  indigent 
inaction  to  gainful  enterprise,  who  have  presided  over  the 
destinies  of  a  whole  exchange,  who  have  built  up  a  financial 
power  before  which  foreign  cabinets  bend  suppliantly, — no 
one  has  cared  to  trace  for  commercial  posterity  the  course 
wherein  these  kings  of  commerce  struggled  and  achieved. 

When  biographers  have  taken  up  a  commercial  man, 
they  have  dropped  business  as  a  leaden  thing,  a  dead  weight, 
that  would  sink  the  book ;  and  so  you  float  away  with  a  fra- 
grant cargo  of  philanthropy  or  public  life.  Mr.  Knight 
gives  us  Gresham ;  but  Gresham  dealt  in  state  finance,  and 
the  high  service  of  kings.  In  the  edifying  biography  of 
Allen,  you  see  much  of  the  beauty  of  holiness,  nothing  of 
the  stern  struggle  of  profif  and  loss.  In  the  almost  fault- 
less biography  of  Buxton,  you  are  now  and  then  permitted 
to  have  a  distant  peep  of  the  brewery,  far  away  in  the  re- 
cesses of  Brick  Lane ;  and  one  day  you  are  positively  taken 


THE   MEN   WHOM   LITERATURE  FOEGOT.  31 

inside  the  gates, — but  it  is  to  eat  beefsteaks  with  the  Pre- 
mier and  the  Lord  Chancellor.  In  nearly  all  the  religious 
biographies  of  those  who  have  been  in  business,  you  see  the 
inner  man  alone.  Had  Jacob's  life  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
a  modern  biographer,  he  would  never  have  thought  of  tell- 
ing us  the  contrivances  by  which  he  multiplied  his  wealth. 
That  would  not  have  been  sufficiently  intellectual,  sufficient- 
ly ethereal, — or,  indeed,  sufficiently  to  Jacob's  credit. 

Arkwright  produced  an  invention  by  which  the  British 
people  have  been  more  influenced  politically,  socially,  and 
morally,  than  by  all  the  expeditions  in  search  of  the  North- 
West  passage,  all  the  orations  of  Curran,  all  the  poems  of 
Burns,  all  the  pictures  of  West ;  yet,  the  aspiring  appren- 
tice who  would  trace  that  wonderful  (I  do  not  mean  noble) 
man,  must  hunt  in  the  '  Beauties  of  Derbyshire,'  among  the 
Cyclopedias,  or  in  the  faithful  annals  of  the  '  Gentleman's 
Magazine,'  for  some  faint  outline  of  his  career.  Should  he 
go  to  a  circulating  library,  and  ask  for  the  life  of  Arkwright, 
perhaps  he  may  be  favoured  with  an  offer  of  the  life  of 
Charles  Matthews.  The  first  Sir  Robert  Peel,  from  an  am- 
bitious labouring  lad,  became  a  baronet,  who  employed  fif- 
teen thousand  men,  spoke  often  in  Parliament,  published 
political  pamphlets,  when  the  country  was  threatened  with 
invasion  gave  ten  thousand  pounds  to  aid  our  overladen 
finances,  raised  half  a  regiment  of  volunteers,  and  bequeathed 
to  England  a  son  who  became  her  most  powerful  statesman. 
Yet  if  a  Lancashire  boy  feels,  as  he  felt,  that  he  has  the 
capability  of  raising  himself  to  station  and  power,  he  may 
go  to  the  library,  and  instead  of  the  life  of  the  founder  of 
the  Peels,  be  offered  one  of  Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  Roths- 
child began  by  buying  prints  at  Manchester,  and  ended  by 
wielding  a  power  which  was  felt  by  every  king  in  Europe. 
Yet  the  young  merchant  who  would  study  his  habits  of  busi- 
ness, may,  possibly,  if  he  inquire  for  his  biography,  be  offered 
that  of  Theodore  Hook. 


32  HISTORIES   UNWRITTEN. 

Nothing  tends  to  form  the  rising  members  of  any  profes 
•ion  more  than  the  biographies  of  those  who  have  been  emi- 
nent in  the  same  line.  The  advantage  of  the  finest  models 
has  long  been  before  the  eye  of  all  the  alumni  of  the  the- 
ological, military,  political,  and  artistic  schools.  Not  so 
with  the  young  men  of  commerce.  Those  of  their  predeces- 
sors who  have  accomplished  the  greatest  wonders,  are  known 
only  by  a  stray  anecdote  or  a  slight  sketch.  Every  boy  in 
the  navy  knows  how  Captain  Brock  took  the  Chesapeake  ; 
but  what  boy  in  the  merchant  service  knows  anything  of  the 
way  in  which  Mr.  Green  created  his  superb  mercantile  fleet, 
with  its  noble  accompaniment,  his  sailor's  home?  Every 
young  author  can  learn  precisely  how  many  pounds  a  day 
Scott  earned  while  writing  the  life  of  Bonaparte,  how  much 
Byron  received  from  Murray  for  Manfred  or  for  the  Cor- 
sair ;  but  though  points  so  mercantile  are  worthy  of  record 
in  the  high  regions  of  poetry,  none  can  tell  by  what  trans- 
actions, successes,  and  plans  the  Barings  built  up  their  pow- 
er. Turn  where  you  will,  you  see  wonders  of  commerce,  the 
origin  of  which  is  recent,  the  history  of  which  would  be  in- 
structive ;  but  which  are  known  only  by  flying  traditions. 
At  Leeds,  you  see  Marshall's  mills  rising  up  as  by  magic, 
giving  employment  directly  or  indirectly  to  thousands,  rais- 
ing many  to  comfort,  some  to  affluence,  spreading  compe- 
tence and  education  around,  giving  that  great  borough  a 
representative,  and  adorning  the  banks  of  Conistone  and 
Ullswater  with  new  mansions  and  demesnes.  Yet,  who  of 
us  can  tell  how  that  wonderful  structure  arose  ?  But  we 
are  all  well  taught  in  the  momentous  fact  that  Lord  Byron 
kept  his  figure  slim  by  living  on  potatoes  and  vinegar.  At 
Stockport  we  see  the  mills  of  another  Marshall,  performing, 
in  cotton,  prodigies  akin  to  those  of  the  former  in  flax  ;  yet 
what  working  man  who  wants  to  rise  can  con  over  the  nar- 
rative of  how  the  founder  of  that  establishment  began,  aud 


THE   CALL   OF   LITERATURE.  33 

rose,  and  weathered  the  storm,  and  pressed  on,  till  he  was 
the  largest  cotton  manufacturer  in  Europe  ?  But  we  are 
all  instructed  in  the  portentous  truth,  that  when  Oliver 
Goldsmith  presented  himself  to  a  Bishop  for  ordination,  he 
was  arrayed  in  scarlet  breeches. 

"  Commerce  is  a  dirty  thing,"  we  have  heard  literary 
lips  say.  Yes,  in  dirty  hands,  it  is  a  dirty  thing ;  and  in 
rude  hands,  a  rude  thing ;  and  in  covetous  hands,  a  paltry, 
pelfy  thing.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  thing  on  which  those  who 
despise  it  are  largely  dependent.  Without  it,  the  author 
would  have  no  market  for  his  works  ;  the  intellectual  gentle* 
man,  no  bookshop ;  the  grand  lady,  no  sumptuous  furniture ; 
the  fop,  no  finery  ;  the  idler,  no  dainties.  And,  what  is  far 
more  important,  it  is  the  thing  in  which  the  bulk  of  our 
countrymen  are  spending  their  lives,  and  in  which  the  bulk 
of  future  generations  will  spend  their  lives  too, — the  thing  on 
which  their  earthly  hopes  will  depend,  in  which  their  souls  will 
be  tempted,  exercised,  chained  down  to  the  dust,  or  prepared 
for  immortal  joy.  If  literature  has  any  work  in  this  world 
at  all,  it  is  to  refine  and  elevate  every  sphere  of  human  life ; 
to  be  the  companion,  and  friend,  and  teacher  of  every  rank 
of  men.  It  cannot,  therefore,  witnout  being  faithless  to  its 
mission,  pass  lightly  over  that  sphere  wherein  the  most  nu- 
merous and  most  energetic  class  of  the  community  are 
trained  in  youth  and  tried  in  manhood.  No  theme  is  dull, 
if  not  handled  with  dulness ;  no  theme  low,  if  the  writer 
exalts  it.  The  pen  of  Wordsworth  can  chain  you  to  the 
track  of  an  old  Cumberland  beggar,  until  you  almost  count 
the  nails  in  his  footprint,  and  feel  the  dust  from  his  meal- 
wallet.  The  moss-trooper,  the  smuggler,  the  buccaneer,  are 
all  chosen  subjects  of  lofty  authors ;  but  to  depict  an  actual 
man,  whose  life  has  been  spent  in  the  struggles,  the  reverses, 
the  glossy  frauds,  and  the  sordid  triumphs,  of  downright 
purchase  and  sale^eems  a  task  far  too  practical  for  a  pen 
2* 


34  LITTLE    AND   GREAT. 

from  the  ethereal  plume  of  genius.  Gait,  even  when  under 
taking  to  portray  the  curious  life  of  Grant  Thorburn.  must 
needs  enshroud  it  in  the  fiction  of  '  Laurie  Todd.' 

"  Who  would  ever  think  of  writing  the  life  of  the  moil- 
ing pelf-worm,  who  works  and  wriggles  through  the  dust, 
thinking  of  nothing  but  making  his  way?  True,  who  would? 
But  who  would  think  of  writing  the  life  of  the  commonplace 
soldier,  who  wheels  to  right  or  left,  loads,  presents,  fires,  and 
fixes  bayonet  ?  or  of  the  scribbler  who  palms  a  book  upon 
the  world  ?  or  of  the  spouter  who  perpetrates  dull  speeches  ? 
The  ignoble  is  ignoble  in  any  sphere  ;  the  great  is  great  in 
any.  Commerce,  like  other  spheres,  has  had  its  marvellous 
men ;  and  to  the  moralist,  no  class  he  could  handle  would  af- 
ford such  innumerable  points  on  which  important  light  might 
be  shed  upon  life's  actual  ways,  wherein  the  plodding  and 
the  practical  are  ever  tempted  to  sell  truth  and  integrity  for 
gold.  But  from  them  the  literati  seemed  to  have  turned 
away.  The  TERRA  INCOGNITA  of  the  learned  is  ordinary 
life.  The  Chronicles  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  the  History 
of  Banking,  the  Bankers'  Magazine,  and  some  prints  devo- 
ted to  economical  questions,  all  show  that  literature  has  at 
length  set  out  to  explore  that  region  of  reputed  desert. 

For  business  men,  as  a  class,  literature  has  done  little. 
They  can  lay  their  hands  on  few  books  that  are  not  likely 
to  estrange  them  from  their  avocations  just  in  proportion  as 
they  charm  them.  The  young  men  of  any  other  profession, 
beside  the  dry  study  of  principles,  may  at  the  same  time 
relax  their  minds,  and  rouse  up  all  their  professional  aspira- 
tions by  the  lives  of  some  who  have  trodden  the  very  path 
on  which  they  are  starting,  and  found  it  the  way  to  emi- 
nence. Not  so  the  young  merchant,  of  whatever  grade. 
For  the  lives  of  the  great,  he  must  go  out  of  his  own  line, 
and  perhaps  learn  to  despise  it,  when  he  might  have  learned 
its  value,  and  had  all  his  views  ennobled.  Thus  many  busi- 


BUSINESS   AND   LITERATURE.  35 

ness  men  dread  books,  just  as  literary  men  dread  business. 
The  two  things  have  been  at  enmity.  The  literatus  has 
looked  down  on  the  man  of  figures  and  facts,  with  counting- 
house  taste  and  cash-box  imagination.  The  merchant  has 
looked  down  on  the  man  of  lofty  ideas  and  light  pockets, 
redundant  in  sentiment,  but  lacking  in  common  sense.  You 
can  hardly  ever  find  a  business  man  who  has  any  just  notion 
of  the  mercantile  value  of  genius,  or  a  literary  man,  who 
has  any  appreciation  of  business.  How  seldom  does  a  mil- 
lionaire take  any  pains  to  encourage  letters  ;  or  a  scholar 
care  to  analyse  the  life  of  a  merchant,  whatever  mental  pow- 
er he  may  have  displayed,  whatever  impulse  he  may  have 
given  to  the  improvement  of  international  or  internal  rela- 
tions, whatever  influence  he  may  have  exerted  on  the  history 
of  a  kingdom.  Consequently  little  light  has  been  shed  into 
the  recesses  of  commerce  from  higher  spheres.  Men  of  busi- 
ness have  been  left  to  form  their  own  codes  of  morals,  with 
a  millionth  part  of  the  criticism,  from  the  erudite,  on  the 
moral  correctness  of  this  principle  and  of  that  mode  of  trans- 
action, that  has  been  spent  on  the  letter  A,  the  Greek  arti- 
cle, or  the  digamma.  The  politics  of  commerce  are  now,  per- 
force, a  favourite  study ;  but  the  morality  of  purchase  and 
sale,  the  effect  of  business  upon  character,  the  relation  which 
art,  science,  and  literature  bear  to  commerce,  are  points  on 
which  business  men  are  little  indebted  to  those  whose  call- 
ing it  is  to  instruct.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  mercantile 
class  might  have  been  great  gainers,  in  enlarged  views,  in 
refined  pleasure,  in  appreciation  of  the  efforts  and  the  utility 
of  the  higher  orders  of  mind,  and  also  in  clear  views  of  the 
moral  principles  of  trade. 

But  more  attention  to* practical  life,  on  the  part  of  liter- 
ary men,  would  be  as  rich  in  benefit  to  themselves  as  to  men 
in  business.  In  handling  that  subject,  they  would  grow 
wiser,  and  would  impart  more  wisdom.  They  would  dia- 


36  PREACHERS  AND  TRADESMEN. 

cover  that  fictitious  characters  were  no  more  necessary  to 
furnish  interest,  pleasure,  amusement,  surprise,  and  sadness, 
than  fictitious  landscapes  are  necessary  to  furnish  mountain* 
forest,  water,  and  sky.  They  would  constantly  find  moral 
problems,  which  might  engage  the  most  subtle  dialectitians, 
and  yet  would  interest  the  stock-jobber  and  the  shopman. 

To  the  lawyer  who  has  constantly  to  handle  commercial 
transactions,  to  the  judge  who  has  to  pronounce  upon  them, 
to  the  statesman  who  has  to  balance  conflicting  mercantile 
interests,  to  the  schoolmaster  who  has  to  train  men  for  busi- 
ness life,  a  knowledge  of  all  its  aspects  would  be  invaluable. 
But  to  the  preacher,  above  all,  who  has  constantly  to  deal 
with  men  immersed  in  trade,  it  is  of  an  importance  not  to 
be  calculated  that  he  should  know  the  life  which  all  the 
week  long  his  hearers  are  leading — its  temptations,  its  glosses, 
its  rivalries,  its  depressions,  its  joys ;  its  anxieties,  which 
cast  the  care  of  the  soul  into  the  shade  ;  its  ambitions,  which 
outweigh  the  claims  of  truth  and  right.  Ignorant  of  these 
he  must  leave  many  to  flounder  in  temptation,  whom  he 
might  be  the  means  of  extricating ;  many  to  be  worried  with 
care,  when  he  might  win  their  attention  to  better  things  ; 
many  to  sink  under  their  load,  to  whom  he  might  have  given 
a  timely  solace ;  many  to  go  on  in  a  course  of  gainful  sin, 
whose  conscience  he  might  have  reached  and  aroused.  Too 
often,  the  man  of  business  feels  that  the  remarks  from  the 
pulpit  only  show  that  his  case  is  not  at  all  understood. 
There  are  few  preachers  of  whom  it  could  be  said,  as  I 
have  heard  it  said  of  Dr.  M'Neile,  that  after  some  of  his  ser 
mons  his  hearers  felt  as  if  he  had  served  his  time  to  every 
trade  in  the  town.  Dr.  Chalmers,  too,  endeavoured  worthily 
to  bring  the  strong  light  of  his  Christian  eloquence  to  eluci- 
date the  pathway  which  is  ever  so  crowded,  however  it  may 
be  forgotten  by  the  learned. 

I  have  now  to  tell  you  of  a  genuine  son  of  English  com 


OUR  TALE.  37 

merce  ;  not  of  one  who,  like  Gresham,  was  by  birth  a  prince 
of  the  blood  in  the  empire  of  trade ;  but  of  one  who,  be- 
ginning in  the  ranks,  fought  his  way  up  to  eminence :  not  ofc- 
one  who  took  his  stand  among  the  archers  of  speculation, 
and,  drawing  his  bow  at  their  brilliant  target,  chanced  to 
strike  the  gold  ;  but  of  one  who  rose  by  sheer  dint  of  work- 
ing, systematising,  and  extending  his  own  legitimate  busi- 
ness :  not  of  one  who  accumulated  by  the  simple  power  of 
retention, — getting,  griping,  holding,  and  never  giving  ;  but 
of  one  who  was  as  apt  to  scatter  as  to  increase :  not  of  one 
in  whom  early  influence  and  education  had  combined  the 
polish  of  aristocratic  circles  with  the  pursuits  of  commer- 
cial life ;  but  of  one  who  was,  to  the  last,  the  keen,  bustling, 
downright  man  of  business  :  not  of  one  who  was  so  absorbed 
in  trade  that  he  never  had  a  spare  thought  or  a  spare  mo- 
ment for  recreation,  friendship,  the  interests  of  others,  the 
culture  of  his  mind,  or  the  care  of  his  soul ;  but  of  one 
who,  while  passionately  earnest  in  business,  had  always  a 
heart  for  a  friend,  a  hand  for  the  poor,  an  hour  for  good 
works,  a  relish  for  a  book,  and  a  lively  solicitude  for  the 
things  that  never  pass  away :  not  of  one  who  amassed  and 
left  behind  him  a  fortune,  making  a  wonder  in  itself ;  but  of 
one  who  did  not  care  to  die  rich :  not  of  one  who  moved  in 
the  high  walks  of  cosmopolitan  philanthropy ;  but  of  one 
whose  work  was  wrought  near  his  own  door,  among  the  col- 
liers and  the  lane-side  cots  of  a  poor  and  unpolished  neigh 
bourhood.  Such  is  the  tale  I  have  to  tell ;  do  be  patient 
and  follow  me. 

The  little  Somersetshire  town  of  Wrington  hasbeenknown 
to  the  great  world  only  through  one  name.  It  was  there  that 
the  sage  eye  of  John  Locke  first  opened  to  the  light.  How 
strange,  that,  age  after  age,  the  natives  of  Wrington  should 
pass  away  unknown,  and  a  single  individual  stand  up  before 
mankind  a  prodigy  and  an  ornament,  greeted  everywhere  by 


38  WRINGTON  AND  NAIL8KA. 

tho  noble  and  the  wise  with  admiring  obeisance.  That  one 
illustrious  reputation,  overshadowing  those  numbers  of  hum- 
ble names,  speaks  to  us  very  weightily  of  a  hand  which 
silently  frames  our  powers  and  allots  our  sphere. 

It  was  in  this  same  quiet  little  town  of  Wrington,  that 
Samuel  Budgett  received  his  birth  ;  on  the  27th  of  July, 
1794.  But  his  recollections  brought  up  to  him  no  trace  of 
his  native  town.  It  was  to  the  village  of  Backwell,  whither 
his  parents  had  removed,  that  his  first  gleams  of  memory 
referred  ;  and  these  "  were  very  faint."  When  only  five 
years  old,  his  parents  again  removed ;  fixing  this  time  at 
Nailsea.  Here  it  is  that  his  recollection  begins  fully  to  re- 
tain events.  Of  some  of  these  we  have  records  in  his  own 
words.  A  young  friend,  to  whom,  late  in  life,  he  had  be- 
come much  attached,  and  who  knew  how  to  estimate  the  re- 
markable man  whose  intimacy  she  had  gained,  set  her  heart 
on  preserving  his  own  animated  narratives  of  the  leading 
occurrences  in  his  career.  She  was  able  to  carry  out  her 
purpose  only  as  far  as  regarded  his  earliest  years ;  then  op- 
portunities never  recurred  till  disease  and  death  closed  the 
lips  from  which  she  would,  otherwise,  have  collected  many  a 
tale  pregnant  with  interest  and  with  lessons.  Our  op- 
portunities of  laying  his  own  words  before  the  reader  will 
be  so  few,  that  some  of  these  early  recitals,  which  might 
otherwise  have  been  passed  over,  may  be  given,  to  permit  the 
man  to  make  his  own  impression. 

It  may  generally  be  assumed,  that  those  events  of  child- 
hood which  leave  a  permanent  impression  on  the  memory, 
have  had  considerable  influence  in  moulding  the  character. 
Adventures  which  are  -trivial  as  possible  in  their  external 
history,  may  be  so  frequently  present  to  the  early  reflec- 
tions, and  may  mingle  with  so  much  of  early  thought,  that 
their  place  in  the  inner  history  is  altogether  dispropor- 
tioned  to  their  seeming  importance.  Mr.  Budgett  thus  nar- 


HIS  FER8T   RECOLLECTION.  39 

rates  "  the  very  first  recollection  of  importance "  which  he 
preserved : — 

"  The  very  first  recollection  of  importance  I  have,  is  that 
of  a  Mr.  Taylor,  an -Irish  gentleman,  coming  to  lodge  in  my 
father's  house,  and  offering  to  undertake  the  education  of 
the  children ;  and  although  my  parents  were  both  extremely 
kind  and  indulgent,  so  far  was  it  from  producing,  as  it  ought 
to  have  done,  anything  like  hope  or  pleasure^  I  remember 
distinctly  such  fear  was  produced  in  my  mind  (although  I 
am  not  aware  that  he  ever  spoke  an  unkind  word  to  me), 
that,  for  a  short  time,  annihilation  seemed  preferable  to  life 
itself :  and  life  became  a  complete  burden,  from  no  other 
cause  than  the  idea  I  had  formed  of  his  warmth  of  temper. 
My  mind,  however,  was  completely  relieved  when  the  propo- 
sition was  not  accepted.  This  circumstance  left  an  indelible 
impression,  and  produced  great  care,  in  after  life,  to  pre- 
vent a  recurrence  of  the  kind  in  the  case  of  my  own  chil- 
dren." 

This  first  glimpse  at  his  character  brings  to  light  two 
things ; — an  extreme  sensitiveness,  a  painful  heart-sinking 
timidity  ;  and  a  habit  of  treasuring  up  a  lesson  from  the 
past,  to  apply  it  to  the  emergencies  of  the  future.  The  for- 
mer of  these  characteristics  was  probably  physical ;  the  lat- 
ter was  one  of  his  great  elements  of  power  and  success.  The 
terror  he  had  felt  was  not  looked  back  upon  with  a  smile,  as 
a  mere  childish  folly ;  but  was  carefully  preserved  in  view, 
as  a  guard  against  allowing  similar  distress  to  be  coupled 
in  the  mind  of  one  of  his  own  children  with  their  education. 

The  next  of  his  early  recollections  is  this  : — 

"  About  the  same  time,  I  remember  a  remarkable  dream 
of  my  father's.  After  having  lost  a  black  mare  for  some 
weeks,  supposing  it  to  have  been  stolen,  he  had  given  up  all 
search  ;  and  when  he  awoke  one  morning,  he  said, '  Betsy,  I 
have  dreamt  that  I  found  the  mare  at  Kingston  Seamore, 


40  THE   LOST   MARE. 

grazing  on  the  Moors ;  and  the  dream  is  so  distinct,  I'll  g« 
and  see.'  He  soon  obtained  a  horse,  and  rode  off.  My 
mother  having  told  us  of  it,  we  were  in  full  expectation,  to- 
ward evening,  of  my  father's  return ;  and  a  little  before 
dusk,  as  we  were  all  looking  out,  big  with  expectation  and 
hope,  the  gate  flew  open,  and  in  rode  my  father  on  the  horse 
with  which  he  left  home  in  the  morning,  and  leading  the 
black  mare  in  his  right  hand,  with  his  pocket-handkerchief 
filled  with  a  quantity  of  crabs  and  other  live  fish  which  he 
brought  home  for  our  amusement.  The  delight  and  glee 
which  we  all  felt  on  his  arrival,  at  his  success,  and  on  be- 
holding for  the  first  time  animals  of  this  kind  crawling  on 
the  large  stones  before  our  door,  may  more  easily  be  con- 
ceived than  described,  and  left  an  impression  which  will 
never  be  effaced,  as  one  of  the  most  wonderful  events  that 
could  happen  ;  particularly  as  during  the  loss  of  the  horse, 
the  children  participated  in  the  feelings  of  the  parents,  sup- 
posing we  were  well  nigh  ruined." 

This  again  brings  to  light  one  of  the  most  powerful  ele- 
ments in  forming  his  character  and  fixing  his  pursuits, — a 
lively  sympathy  in  the  concerns  of  his  family.  Few  boys  of 
five  or  six  would  feel  so  intensely  about  the  injury  arising  to 
their  parents  from  the  loss  of  a  horse,  that  its  recovery  should 
form,  ever  after,  one  of  the  chief  events  of  early  life.  But 
we  shall  abundantly  see,  as  we  proceed,  that  this  early  activ- 
ity of  family  affection  was  a  true  index  of  his  heart. 

Perhaps  this  adventure  of  the  lost  mare  also  affected  hii 
character  in  another  way.  Here,  at  the  outset  of  life,  his 
feelings  had  been  intensely  wrought  upon  in  connexion  with 
a  horse.  The  horse  had  been  made  to  appear  a  treasure  and 
a  friend.  In  after  life,  he  was  remarkable  for  his  love  of 
horses ;  and  we  shall  find  his  benevolence  making  a  singular 
use  of  that  peculiarity.  Perhaps  the  loss  of  the  black  mare 
at  Nail&ea  was  the  secret  of  that  fancy  to  which  some  of  hia 


KING8WOOD.  41 

poor  neighbours  at  Kingswood  were  indebted  for  the  gift  of 
a  good  horse. 

What  child  has  not  his  escapes  ?  They  too  often  leave 
important  traces  both  in  the  physical  and  mental  history. 
Besides  a  terrible  accident  in  a  tanpit,  where  he  was  hardly 
rescued  from  drowning,  he  had  a  mishap  which  left  a  mark 
upon  his  countenance  to  the  end.  He  thus  describes  his  most 
memorable  escape : 

"  We  then  lived  in  a  large  and  respectable  house,  belong- 
ing to  the  late  James  Davis,  Esq.,  of  Bristol,  having  large 
entrance-gates  on  the  left  hand  of  a  long  yard  opposite  the 
house  door.  On  the  right  hand  was  a  very  nice  cherry  or- 
chard ;  on  the  left  hand,  going  from  the  cherry  orchard  to 
the  alcove,  was  a  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  kitchen  gar- 
den ;  at  the  bottom  of  which  was  a  bathing  pond :  and  on 
one  occasion,  when  this  was  emptied,  a  large  quantity  of  mud 
had  collected  at  the  bottom,  which  was  drawn  away  by  a  cart 
with  three  horses.  As  the  cart  was  moving  on,  when  load- 
ed, from  the  pond,  I  (being  between  five  and  six  years  of  age) 
ran  before  the  wheel,  and  falling  on  my  back,  the  broad  wheel 
passed  over  the.  top  of  my  right  thigh,  across  my  body,  over 
the  left  shoulder,  grazing  my  chin,  and  has  left  a  mark  to 
this  day.  My  father  took  me  up  and  carried  me  in,  suppos- 
ing me  dead  ;  but  on  being  bled,  I  recovered,  and  was  soon 
better." 

Such  a  shock  was  not  calculated  to  abate  the  sensitiveness 
from  which  he  so  much  suffered. 

"In  1801,"  he  says,  "we  removed  to  Kingswood.  I  re- 
member, there,  father  and  mother  taking  a  shop,  which  was 
termed  '  the  great  shop  on  the  cassy'  (causeway)."  Two  years 
afterwards,  this  shop  was  left  in  the  hands  of  a  brother,  many 
years  older  than  he,  and  the  son  of  another  mother.  On  this 
occasion  the  family  removed  to  Coleford,  "  where,"  he  says, 
u  my  parents  opened  a  small  general  shop." 


42  OEWIUS. 

The  same  benevolent  Power  which  sends  amongst  man- 
kind some  qualified,  by  special  genius,  to  advance  their 
knowledge,  manners,  or  polity,  also  sends  some  qualified,  by 
special  genius,  to  advance  their  commercial  development. 
Such  a  man  was  Samuel  Budgett.  He  was  born  a  merchant, 
just  as  other  men  have  been  born  poets,  painters,  or  mathe- 
maticians. Genius  lies  in  intuition  and  impulse, — an  inborn 
aptitude  to  perform  a  certain  thing,  and  an  inborn  desire  to 
perform  it.  Dr.  Johnson's  definition,  "  a  mind  of  large  gen- 
eral powers,  accidentally  determined  in  some  particular  di- 
rection," applies  to  the  highest  order  of  the  human  mind : 
but  shoots  above  the  majority  of  those  who  possess  proper 
genius,  which  often  exists,  remarkably,  in  persons  not  gifted 
with  "  large  general  powers,"  and  not  capable  of  pre-eminence 
in  any  direction  but  the  one  to  which  their  "  genius"  leads 
them.  Large  general  powers  may  take  their  direction  acci- 
dentally ;  genius  does  not.  It  always  sets  its  possessor  on 
his  own  particular  path.  An  old  lady  in  Nottinghamshire, 
who  happens  to  imagine  that  dead  people  dwell  in  the  moon, 
has  only  to  provoke  the  boy-lord  of  Newstead  Abbey,  when 
he  breaks  out, — 

*  In  Nottingham  county,  there  lives  at  Swan  Green, 

As  cursed  an  old  lady  as  ever  was  seen ; 
•     And  when  she  shall  die,  which  I  hope  will  be  soon, 
She  firmly  believes  that  she'll  go  to  the  moon." 

There  it  was ;  the  impulse  to  put  his  passion  into  verse,  and 
the  ability  to  do  it.  The  old  lady  might  have  provoked  all 
the  other  boys  in  Nottinghamshire,  and  not  found  one,  what- 
ever were  his  general  powers,  who  would  have  vented  his  irri- 
tation in  that  form.  So  Watts,  when  whipped  for  rhyming, 
begged  pardon  in  rhyme.  So  Pascal,  when  still  carefully 
prevented  from  seeing  mathematical  books,  is  found  working 
demonstrations  on  the  floor,  with  charcoal,  calling  his  line* 


THE   FIRST   PENNY.  43 

bars,  and  his  circles  rounds.  So  Chantrey,  sent  to  sell  milk, 
is  busy  carving  heads  on  a  walking-stick.  So  Jackson,  set 
upon  a  tailor's  board,  is  perpetually  drawing  pictures  with 
his  chalk.  So  Arkwright,  deep  in  dyeing  wigs,  is  planning  the 
perpetual  motion.  So  James  Watt,  placed  at  a  tea-table,  is 
pondering  the  properties  of  steam.  Thus  it  ever  is ;  if  a 
man  has  naturally  the  power  of  genius,  he  spontaneously  ex- 
erts it.  The  power  would  be  useless  without  the  impulse. 
In  the  case  before  us,  the  power  was  specially  commercial, 
and  the  impulse  took  that  bent.  Just  as  other  boys  natu- 
rally betook  themselves  to  rhyming,  sketching,  or  making 
models ;  so  Samuel  Budgett  naturally  betook  himself  to 
making  bargains.  That  was  his  sphere,  and  he  entered  upon 
it  early. 

At  Coleford,  when  about  ten  years  of  age,  he  began  to 
display  his  mercantile  predilections,  and  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  his  habits  and  his  fortune.  His  own  account  of  his 
first  essay  in  merchandise,  and  his  first  possession  of  money, 
is  very  straightforward. 

"  The  first  money  I  ever  recollect  possessing,  was  gained 
iu  the  following  way.  I  went  to  Mr.  Milks,  of  Kilmersdon, 
to  school,  a  distance  of  three  miles.  One  day,  on  my  way,  I 
picked  up  a  horse-shoe,  and  carried  it  about  three  miles,  and 
sold  it  to  a  blacksmith  for  a  penny.  That  was  the  first  penny  I 
ever  recollect  possessing  ;  and  I  kept  it  for  some  time.  A 
few  weeks  after,  the  same  man  called  my  attention  to  a  boy 
who  was  carrying  off  some  dirt  opposite  his  door ;  and 
offered,  if  I  would  beat  the  boy,  who  was  a  bigger  boy  than 
myself,  to  give  me  a  penny.  I  did  so  ;  he  made  a  mark  upon 
it,  and  promised,  if  I  would  bring  it  to  him  that  day  fort- 
night, he  would  give  me  another.  I  took  it  to  him  at  the 
appointed  time,  when  he  fulfilled  his  promise,  and  I  thus  be- 
came possessed  of  tfireepence  ;  since  which,  I  have  never 
been  without,  except  when  I  gave  it  all  away." 


44  THE   HORSE-SHOE. 

One  would  not  have  imagined,  in  seeing  the  little  school 
boy  stop  and  look  at  the  old  horse-shoe,  that  the  turning  point 
of  his  life  had  come.  But  so  it  was.  He  converts  that 
horse-shoe  into  his  first  penny,  and  never  wants  a  penny  more. 
Had  he  not  picked  it  up;  had  he  "never  thought,"  as  people 
so  naturally  say ;  or,  having  thought  of  it,  had  he  felt  ashamed 
to  offer  such  a  thing  for  sale ;  or  had  he  set  it  down  as  too 
much  trouble  to  carry  an  old  horse-shoe  for  three  miles,  prob- 
ably he  would  not  have  had  a  penny  for  many  a  day,  and 
would  have  often  "been  without"  afterwards.  Do  you  think, 
young  man,  that  you  could  use  such  an  opportunity  to  any 
purpose?  If  so  you  may  rely  upon  finding  a  horse-shoe  in 
,  your  path,  some  day.  Those  men  whom  we  see  often  without 
a  penny,  have,  all  of  them,  passed  by  the  horse-shoe  on  their 
path  when  they  were  boys.  And  those  other  men,  who,  from 
nothing,  are  rising  up  rapidly  above  their  neighbors,  have  all 
had  the  sense  to  seize  the  horse-shoe,  and  turn  it  into  the 
foundation  of  a  fortune.  Paths  vary,  but  every  boy,  if  his 
eyes  are  open,  will  certainly  find  the  horse-shoe  in  his  path, 
at  one  point  or  another. 

Mr.  Budgett  was  one  day  riding  in  a  lane  near  his  own 
residence,  when  he  saw  a  boy  following  the  track  of  a  hay- 
cart  and  picking  up  the  tufts  of  hay  that  fell.  He  at  once 
put  his  hand  in  his  pocket,  and  gave  the  boy  a  shilling. 
Doubtless  he  bethought  him  then  of  his  own  horse-shoe,  and 
hoped  his  young  neighbor  was  finding  his. 

And  that  is  an  expressive  note  which  closes  the  record  of 
his  first  fortunes,  "  Since  which,  I  have  never  been  without, 
except  when  I  gave  it  all  away."  Mark  it,  for  we  shall  find 
something  to  call  it  to  mind. 

Here  is  the  history  of  his  second  attempt  at  making 
money : — 

"  The  next  addition  to  my  stock  of  'money  was,  when  one 
of  my  sisters,  in  drawing  treacle,  had  let  it  run  over ;  and  a 


THE   CUCUMBERS.  45 

considerable  quantity  was  wasted.  After  taking  up  what 
she  thought  was  worth  saving,  and  being  about  to  wash  away 
the  remainder,  I  ran  to  my  mother  and  said,  "Mother,  may^ 
I  scrape  up  that  treacle,  and  sell  it  for  myself?"  Having 
gained  her  consent,  I  set  to  work,  scraped  it  up  as  clean  as 
possible,  and  sold  it  for  three  halfpence.  Thus,  by  little  and 
little,  my  fund  became  augmented,  until  I  had  enough  to 
purchase  'Wesley's  Hymns.'  and  I  considered  myself  a  rich 
and  happy  boy." 

In  this  case,  again,  we  see  his  impulse  to  convert  to  gain 
that  which  others  would  let  run  to  loss.  The  "little  and  lit- 
tle" of  which  he  speaks,  was  little  and  little  indeed.  A  sur- 
viving brother  describes  him  as  perpetually  trading.  When 
at  school  he  found  that  for  a  half-penny  he  got  only  six  mar- 
bles, but  for  a  penny  fourteen.  By  buying  a  pennyworth,  and 
selling  to  his  comrades  two  different  half-pennyworths,  he 
earned  two  marbles  honestly ;  and  so  drove  a  profitable  trade. 
Lozenges  were  also  in  request  at  school ;  and  he  found  that  a 
similar  law  of  commerce  obtained  in  lozenges  as  in  marbles, — 
the  large  purchaser  had  an  advantage  over  the  small.  There- 
fore he  bdught  in  pennyworths  and  sold  in  half-pennyworths, 
ever  making  head.  This  trade  returned  a  good  profit  on  the 
capital,  and  was,  moreover,  perfectly  safe.  But  it  seems  in 
the  nature  of  the  merchant  to  make  large  and  hazardous  ad- 
ventures as  his  funds  thrive.  Accordingly,  the  growing  means 
of  our  juvenile  tradesman  'tempted  him  to  seek  a  larger 
sphere.  One  day,  on  the  way  to  school,  he  encountered  a 
woman  bearing  a  basket  of  cucumbers.  He  asked  the  price, 
and  to  her  surprise,  and  his  brother's  discomfiture,  would 
know  the  price  of  the  whole  store.  It  was  in  vain  for  his 
brother  to  remonstrate ;  he  would  buy,  and  he  would  sell. 
The  old  woman  finding  him  really  in  earnest,  concluded  a 
bargain,  and  the  cucumbers  became  his  own.  It  was  not  a 
very  likely  investment  for  the  capital  of  a  school-boy ;  but  his 


4  THE   DONKEY. 

energy  made  it  answer.  The  cucumbers  were  all  sold,  at,  I 
think,  the  notable  profit  of  ninepence. 

Yet  the  boy  who  had  this  singular  passion  for  trade,  and 
'with  it  a  tenacious  care  of  money,  had  his  heart  set  on  some- 
thing nobler  than  a  plentiful  store  of  pelf.  When,  "by  little 
and  little,"  his  original  penny  had  swollen  to  some  shillings, 
he  invests  it  all  in  a  purchase  that  can  yield  no  return  but 
poetry  and  devotion, — the  two  things  one  would  least  expect 
to  find  dwelling  in  the  same  heart  with  this  marvellous  love 
of  traffic.  You  see  the  little  merchant  counting  over  his 
profits,  and  think  what  a  lover  of  money  he  will  be.  You 
then  see  him  making  haste  to  exchange  it  for  'Wesley's 
Hymns;'  and  as  he  eagerly  clasps  his  new  purchase,  you  are 
ready  to  think  that  it,  also,  is  to  sell  and  get  gain.  But,  no; 
it  is  to  read,  and  learn,  and  sing.  And  lo !  with  this  posses- 
sion, he  feels  himself  "a  rich  and  happy  boy."  There  is  some- 
thing more  in  that  young  heart  than  appetite  for  gold. 

From  this  original  trade  in  small  wares,  he  proceeded  to 
deal  in  live  stock.  "  I  still  went  on  to  accumulate,  by  seizing 
every  opportunity;  such  as  buying  a  few  eggs  or  chickens,  a 
young  donkey  or  pig."  The  adventure  of  the  young  don- 
key so  lies  at  the  base  of  his  mercantile  character,  and  was 
wont  to  be  recounted  by  himself  with  such  zest,  that  it  is  well 
we  have  it  in  his  own  words. 

"  I  was  one  day  coming  from  Leigh,  when  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  saw  a  man  walking  along  with  an  old  don- 
key and  a  young  one.  I  asked  the  price  of  the  young  one. 
He  said,  Two-and-sixpence.  I  tried  to  see  if  he  would  take 
less ;  but  finding  he  would  not,  got  a  cord,  put  it  round  his 
neck,  paid  the  two-and-sixpence,  took  it  home  and  kept  it  a 
few  days;  then  sold  it  to  a  Mrs.  Ellis  for  five  shillings;  but 
she  said  she  had  no  money,  but  would  pay  in  the  course  of 
the  week.  I  objected  to  leave  it  without  security.  But  here 
a  difficulty  arose,  as  she  had  no  security  to  offer,  but  a  pair 


BIRD   IN   HAND.  47 

of  new  stays  which  had  just  cost  ten  shillings.  '  Oh !'  said 
I, '  there  is  nothing  like  that,  because  it  is  easily  carried.' 
So,  on  receiving  them,  I  carried  them  all  through  the  village 
in  my  hand,  and  said, '  Mother,  here 's  a  pair  of  stays.  I 
have  sold  the  donkey ;  Mrs.  Ellis  will  call  and  pay  five  shil- 
lings; be  sure  and  not  let  her  have  the  stays  without  the 
money.'  The  donkey,  however,  unfortunately  died  ;  and  she 
wished  to  have  the  stays  returned  without  the  money;  but 
in  vain,  as  I  believed  the  death  was  occasioned  by  want  of 
proper  treatment;  and  by  that  I  learnt,  'A  bird  in  the  hand 
is  worth  two  in  the  bush.'" 

This  principle  of  the  bird  in  the  hand  may  seem  manage- 
able enough  in  the  case  of  an  amateur  merchant  not  yet  in 
his  teens ;  or  even,  perhaps,  in  the  tiny  transactions  of  a  vil- 
lage shop.  But  many  would  pronounce  it  quite  inapplicable 
to  extensive  wholesale  transactions ;  at  least,  in  an  age  when 
lengthened  credit  is  so  essential  a  part  of  commercial  econo- 
my. Few  would  attempt  so  to  apply  it.  and  fewer  still  would 
carry  out  the  attempt.  But  you  can  already  discover  in  the 
boy-merchant  a  power  to  push  his  purpose.  He  intends  to 
have  the  money  for  his  donkey.  His  neighbour  cannot  pay, 
just  then.  Any  ordinary  boy  would  abandon  his  point,  and 
take  the  promise.  But  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  be  paid, 
and  paid  he  must  be,  no  matter  whether  in  shillings  or  in 
stays.  Perhaps  had  all  gone  smoothly  in  this  case,  he  might 
afterwards  have  been  less  strict.  But  it  soon  proves  that 
the  stays  in  hand  are  his  only  protection  from  the  loss  of  his 
entire  two-and-sixpence.  That  was  a  lesson  he  was  not  the 
man  to  forget.  It  was  treasured  up,  like  the  lessons  of  other 
early  events.  "  A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush," 
becomes  one  of  his  standing  axioms.  And  when  he  has  be- 
come one  of  the  most  extensive  merchants  in  England,  the 
principle  taught  by  the  death  of  the  donkey  is  strengthened 
and  elevated  by  a  conviction  that  a  system  of  cash  payments, 


48'  PROMPT   PAYMENT. 

introduced  generally  into  commerce,  would  save  thousand* 
of  families  from  ruin,  and  would  save  the  country  in  times  of 
depression  from  those  series  of  bankruptcies  which  follow 
each  other  like  a  train  of  explosions  in  a  mine.  True,  he 
encounters  immense  difficulty  in  pursuing  this  course.  Every 
day  presents  temptations  to  depart  from  it.  Many  a  large 
and  safe  customer  will  not  submit  to  conditions  which  other 
houses  do  not  impose.  His  natural  passion  for  a  vast  com- 
merce is  strong.  Endless  opportunities  of  extension  open,  if 
he  will  only  forego  his  rule.  But,  no  ;  he  settled  it  when  a 
boy :  "  A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush."  Now 
that  he  is  a  man,  he  may  doubt  whether  he  could  not  widen 
his  sphere,  and  multiply  his  gain  by  a  "  more  liberal "  course  ; 
but  his  system  has  been  smiled  upon  by  Providence,  and  he 
is  convinced  that  one  example  of  success,  on  such  a  system, 
may  be  an  incalculable  public  benefit ;  therefore,  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  if  you  transact  with  him  you  must  transact 
in  cash. 

Most  of  the  maxims  by  which  men  of  original  mind  guide 
their  course  are  derived  from  their  own  observation.  We 
have  already  seen  that  this  was  the  case  with  the  principle 
which  led  Mr.  Budgett  to  aim  at  a  system  of  cash  payments ; 
it  was  also  the  case  with  the  principle  upon  which  he  relied 
for  success  in  that  difficult  course.  Among  his  reminiscences 
of  boyhood,  no  single  one  more  completely  displays  the  born 
merchant  than  the  following,  in  which  we  find  him  philoso- 
phising with  acumen  and  advantage  on  the  business  habits 
of  others : — 

"I  remember,  about  1806  or  1807,  a  young  man  called 

on  my  mother,  from  Mr.  D ,  of  Shepton,  to  solicit  orders 

in  the  grocery  trade.  His  introduction  and  mode  of  treating 
my  mother  were  narrowly  watched  by  me,  particularly  when 
the  asked  the  price  of  several  articles.  On  going  in  to  my 
father,  she  remarked  there  would  be  no  advantage  in  dealing 


SELF-INTEBE8T.  49 

with  Mr.  D -,  as  she  could  not  see  that  his  prices  were 

any  lower  than  those  she  was  in  the  habit  of  giving.  I  slipped 
aside,  and  began  to  think, '  Why,  that  young  man  might  have 
got  my  mother's  trade  if  he  had  known  how ;  if,  instead  of 
mentioning  so  many  articles,  he  had  just  offered  one  or  two, 
at  a  lower  price  than  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  giving, 
Bhe  would  have  been  induced  to  try  those  articles ;  and  thus 
he  would  have  been  introduced,  most  likely,  to  her  whole 
trade.  Beside,  his  manner  was  rather  loose,  and  not  of  the 
most  modest  and  attractive  kind.'  I  believe  the  practical 
lesson  then  learnt  has,  since  that,  been  worth  to  me  thousands 
of  pounds, — namely,  Self-interest  is  the  mainspring  of  human 
actions  ;  you  have  only  to  lay  before  persons,  in  a  strong 
light,  that  what  you  propose  is  to  their  own  interest,  and  you 
will  generally  accomplish  your  purpose."  .  " 

Little  did  the  unsuccessful  traveller  imagine  that  the 
very  little  boy  whom  he  had  seen  in  the  shop  was  pondering 
the  causes  of  his  ill  success,  and  eliciting  a  principle  which 
would  prove  to  him  a  spring  of  commercial  power.  He  saw 
the  precise  point  in  which  the  man  failed, — he  had  not  shown 
his  mother  that  in  dealing  with  him  she  would  serve  herself. 
Had  he  done  so,  she  would  certainly  have  become  his  cus- 
tomer. He  at  once  educes  a  general  principle  from  this 
individual  fact : — All  buyers  will  feel  as  his  mother  feels ; 
they  buy  not  to  serve  the  person  from  whom  they  purchase, 
but  to  serve  themselves :  the  reason  of  this  is,  that  "  Self- 
interest  is  the  mainspring  of  human  actions ;  "  and  the  prac- 
tical use  of  this  fact  is,  that  "  you  have  only  to  show  people 
that  what  you  propose  is  to  their  own  interest,  and  you  will 
generally  accomplish  your  purpose."  He  now  settles  it  in 
his  mind,  that  in  his  future  dealings  with  men  it  will  be  ne» 
cessary  that  he  provide  himself  with  a  case,  which,  when 
fairly  looked  at,  will  convince  them  that  their  interest  lies 
in  purchasing  from  him.  It  may  be  difficult  to  obtain  such 
3 


50  HIS   FffiST  .FOBTUWE. 

a  case  ;  but  if  he  can  only  enlist  self-interest  on  bis  side,  be 
counts  infallibly  on  success.  In  this,  as  in  otber  cases,  be 
tenaciously  beld  by  bis  early  conclusion.  His  axiom  was, 
tbat  you  bad  no  firm  basis  of  success,  but  tbe  conviction  on 
tbe  part  of  others,  tbat,  in  coming  to  you,  they  promoted 
tbeir  own  ends.  Therefore,  he  resolutely  endeavoured  so 
to  construct  bis  system  tbat  a  rule  should  never  be  sacri- 
ficed to  a  customer ;  but  that  the  customer  should  be  told 
that  such  was  the  rule  of  the  firm,  and  if  it  were  not  to 
bis  advantage  to  deal  with  them,  they  should  be  sorry  for 
him  to  do  so. 

His  system  of  cash  payments  seemed,  at  first  sight,  to  be 
in  conflict  with  the  principle  of  engaging  self-interest  on  bis 
behalf.  His  customers  would  think  he  denied  them  advan- 
tages which  others  conceded.  But  firmly  persuaded  in  his 
own  mind  that  the  reverse  was  the  case,  he  relied  on  the 
goodness  of  his  ground,  and  thought  be  could  -  show  them, 
in  a  strong  light,"  that  on  his  system  they  obtained  advan- 
tages much  more  substantial  than  those  conferred  by  the 
usual  term  of  credit. 

Thus  did  be  pass  his  early  boyhood,  gaining  at  once 
profits  from  trade  and  principles  from  experience  ;  laying  up 
a  store  of  money,  and  laying  up  a  far  more  valuable  store  of 
maxims.  By  the  time  he  bad  reached  his  fourteenth  year, 
he  was  an  old  merchant  in  practice  and  in  sagacity ;  and  thirty 
pounds  in  sterling  cash  was  the  fruit  of  his  boyish  barter. 
The  time  now  came  when  he  must  set  forth  into  the  world. 
He  was  apprenticed  to  his  elder  brother  at  Kingswood.  One 
would  expect  that  be  would  march  forth  to  bis  apprentice- 
ship exulting  in  his  wealth,  and  full  of  visions  as  to  tho 
golden  days  to  come.  Already  bis  penny  had  become  thirty 
pounds ;  that  is,  his  original  capital  multiplied  seven  thou- 
sand two  hundred  times.  What  might  not  his  present  capi- 
tal become,  if  used  with  equal  ability  ?  Such  would  be  the 


MERCHANT  AND  MISEB.  51 

calculations,  such  the  emotions,  one  would  naturally  look  for 
in  this  boy,  as  he  turned  his  steps  to  face  the  world.  But 
how  does  his  own  simple  record  of  what  then  happened  falsi- 
fy our  anticipations  : — 

"  By  the  time  I  left  Coleford  for  Kingswood,  when  I  was 
between  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  of  age,  I  had  saved  thirty 
pounds,  which  I  presented  to  my  parents  ;  which  they  intend- 
ed returning,  but  were  incapable." 

This  recalls  to  one's  mind  that  singular  note  with  which 
he  closes  the  account  of  his  first  penny,  "  and  I  was  never 
without  afterwards,  except  when  I  gave  it  all  away."  What ! 
fie  give  "  all  away  " — the  boy  that  would  carry  a  horse-shoe 
three  miles  to  make  a  penny ;  that  would  trade  and  save, 
and  save  and  trade,  till  pence  became  shillings,  and  shillings 
pounds  ;  that  would  take  Mrs.  Ellis's  stays,  rather  than  trust 
her,  lest  he  should  lose  his  crown  ; — this  boy  give  away  ! 
One  would  have  expected  him  to  be  a  copper-hearted  little 
miser.  Perhaps  you  would  ;  but  he  was  not  a  miser,  he  was 
a  merchant.  His  passion  was  for  trade,  not  for  gold.  The 
joy  of  the  miser  is  a  great  hoard  ;  the  joy  of  the  merchant, 
a  successful  transaction.  You  may  find  one  man  who  is 
both  miser  and  merchant ;  another  who  is  miser  and  no  m*er- 
chant ;  and  another  who  is  merchant  and  no  miser.  Samuel 
Budgett  was  the  latter ;  a  merchant  by  nature,  a  merchant 
in  extreme  ;  but  his  soul  was  as  far  above  the  soul  of  a  miser 
as  the  soul  of  a  philosopher  is  above  that  of  a  pedant.  While 
a  due  sense  of  the  value  of  money  is  an  absolute  pre-requisito 
to  commercial  success,  an  excessive  love  of  it  is  a  drawback 
rather  than  a  fitness  for -high  mercantile  adventure.  The 
danger  of  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  lie  in  an  excessive  love  of 
money,  but  it  did  lie  in  an  excessive  love  of  a  good  bargain. 

It  was,  certainly,  a  remarkable  combination  of  character, 
by  which  this  boy  had  the  keen  love  of  trade  and  the  rigid 
care  of  money  that  enabled  him  to  gather  so  fast,  and  yet  the 


52  A   GOOD   INVESTMENT. 

heart  which  made  him  feel  "  rich  and  happy  "  when  he  had 
parted  with  his  first  bright  store  for  the  sacred  lyrics  of 
Charles  Wesley,  and  which  impelled  him,  when  on  the  eve  of 
apprenticeship,  to  take  the  whole  of  his  thirty  pounds  and 
"  present  it  to  his  parents,"  turning  to  face  the  world  with- 
out even  the  parent  penny  that  sprang  from  his  old  horse- 
shoe !  As  he  sets  forth  on  the  hard  path  of  life,  fresh  from 
this  filial  offering,  who  does  not  see  beauty  and  blessing  rest- 
ing on  the  head  of  the  penniless  apprentice  ?  When  he  took 
that  tempting  thirty  pounds  which  exalted  him  above  his 
comrade  boys,  and  laid  it  all  in  the  hand  of  his  good  mother, 
it  was  the  best  venture  of  his  life.  Young  man  !  rely  upon 
this,  No  investment  under  the  sky  is  so  sure  as  a  parents 
blessing.  Temporal  welfare  is  made  over  to  the  dutiful  son, 
by  "  the  first  commandment  with  promise."  Show  me  the 
young  man  whose  hat  has  lost  its  nap,  whose  coat  is  dim  and 
bare,  whose  gloves  are  far  worn,  who  walks  when  his  com- 
rades ride,  who  entertains  no  one,  who  sees  few  sights,  who 
never  has  a  spare  shilling,  but  whose  mother  at  home,  every 
now  and  then,  drops  a  tear  over  new  tokens  of  his  self-denial ; 
and  far,  far  rather  would  I  purchase  the  prospects  of  that 
young  man,  than  of  one  whose  hat  is  bright,  his  coat  new, 
his  gloves  spruce,  who  can  jaunt  to-day  and  entertain  to- 
morrow, but  whose  mother,  when  neighbours  inquire  for  her 
boy,  says  he  was  well  when  last  she  heard,  hiding  in  the  soli- 
tude of  her  aching  heart  how  long  it  is  since  a  letter  came. 

What,  then,  were  the  natural  elements,  and  what  the 
early  influence  from  home,  from  religion,  from  school,  or  from 
early  associations  and  occurrences,  that  went  to  form  the 
character  of  this  remarkable  boy  ? 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE     BASIS     OF     CHARACTER. 


*  In  every  work  that  he  began he  did  it  with  all  his  heart  and  prospered." 

2  CHBON.  XXXL  21. 


THE  chief  causes  that  unite  to  give  a  man  the  stamp  which 
the  world  calls  his  character,  are,  natural  qualities,  parental 
and  family  influence,  school  training,  early  adventures  and 
associates,  and  above  all,  religious  impressions.  The  last 
none  can  ever  trace  except  the  man  himself ;  but  they  modify 
the  other  constituents  of  character  with  a  power  limited  only 
by  their  own  intensity. 

As  to  natural  qualities,  the  most  prominent  feature  in 
Mr.  Budgett's  case  has  been  already  dwelt  upon,  namely,  hia 
commercial  genius.  A  swift  intuition  of  character  and  of 
probabilities  was  the  most  obvious  source  of  his  power. 
With  a  rapidity  almost  incredible  he  read  a  man  or  un- 
ravelled a  complex  set  of  circumstances.  He  soon  acquired 
great  confidence  in  this  intuition,  seldom  hesitating  to  act 
upon  it  either  as  to  an  individual  or  as  to  a  transaction. 
And  all  his  friends  would  closely  watch  that  man  whom  his 
first  glance  distrusted,  and  would  prosecute  hopefully  that 
transaction  which  he  declared  promising. 

With  this  faculty  was  most  happily  combined  an  uncom- 
mon logical  power  of  tracing  out  in  strict  sequence,  step  by 


64r  INTUITION. 

step,  the  probable  result  of  a  chain  of  circumstances.  He  could 
arrange,  in  his  own  mind,  beforehand,  the  separate  turns  and 
details  of  a  negotiation ;  and  put  down  on  paper  the  points 
that  weighed  on  this  side  and  those  that  weighed  on  that, 
and  then  mark  precisely  the  line  where  he  could  act  with 
advantage.  I  have  had  before  me  a  calculation  of  this  kind, 
made  late  in  life,  which  remarkably  shows  that  though  always 
ready  to  act  upon  his  rapid  intuition  when  circumstances 
compelled  him  so  to  do,  he  was  equally  disposed,  when  op- 
portunity allowed,  to  forecast  every  step  he  took.  In  fact 
so  far  did  he  carry  the  latter  habit,  that  he  never  issued 
from  his  library  for  a  day's  duty  without  having  arranged 
on  paper  all  the  steps  to  be  taken  that  day  ;  and  never  went 
to  converse  on  any  important  matter,  without  having  noted 
down  the  points  to  be  raised.  In  thus  checking  and  dis- 
ciplining intuition,  often  lies  the  difference  between  a  wise 
man  and  a  rash  one.  A  man  finds  that  often  his  first  im- 
pressions prove  correct,  and  his  first  impulses  right.  He 
also  sometimes  finds  that  when  he  has  allowed  subsequent 
consideration  to  reverse  his  first  impression,  or  subsequent 
persuasion  to  check  his  first  impulse,  he  was  wrong.  He 
thence  concludes  that  he  is  always  right  in  his  first  impres- 
sions and  first  impulses.  "  I  never  am  dissuaded  from  my 
own  judgment  but  I  repent  of  it  afterwards,"  is  his  sage  re- 
flection ;  and  on  he  goes,  following  his  own  judgment  alone, 
till,  at  the  end  of  life,  he  and  his  judgment  have  made  a 
pitiful  career.  If  you  are  at  all  inclined  to  think  you  have 
a  good  portion  of  sense,  I  would  strongly  advise  you  not  to 
take  it  for  granted.  True,  you  may  have  at  hand  several 
instances  in  which  you  were  right.  But  some  of  us  have  a 
better  memory  for  the  cases  in  which  we  are  right  than  for 
those  in  which  we  are  wrong.  Take  the  wisest  man  yon 
know ;  and  when  you  find  your  opinion  differing  from  his, 
do  not  forget  the  fact.  Watch  how  that  matter  turns  out. 


CHECKS   UPON   INSIGHT.  55 

If  you  find  that  you  are  generally  right  in  such  cases,  then 
begin  humbly  to  believe  that  God  has  given  you  a  fair  un- 
derstanding as  one  of  the  talents  for  which  you  must  ac- 
count. But  if  you  find  you  were  wrong,  first  make  the  full 
deduction  necessary  from  your  self-confidence,  and  then  try 
and  find  out  what  beguiled  you,  that  you  may  take  a  juster 
view  at  a  future  time.  Again,  when  great  events  occur 
about  which  you  are  much  excited,  either  in  the  family,  the 
business,  the  church,  or  the  state,  remember  the  side  you 
took,  and  the  anticipations  you  formed  when  the  matter  was 
yet  undecided.  Then  when  the  issue  is  known,  test  your 
judgment  by  facts.  Be  honest :  see  whether  you  are  right 
three  times  out  of  four ;  and  if  not,  be  very  humble ;  but  if  so, 
be  humble  still,  yet  hopeful  that  when  you  have  deliberately 
judged  you  are  probably  not  far  wrong.  You  have  often 
met  with  people  who,  happen  what  will,  always  say,  "  I  knew 
that  would  be  it."  Happy  prophets  they  !  whose  foresight 
is  always  paulo-post-future.  If  you  have,  or  think  you  have, 
a  strong  intuition,  take  care  !  Genuine  intuition  is  allied  to 
foresight;  but  even  such  an  intuition  must  only  have  a 
limited  sway.  If  left  absolute,  it  overrides  all  the  faculties 
of  mind,  all  the  opportunities  of  life ;  if  reduced  by  check, 
restraint,  and  counsel  to  a  limited  sway,  it  may  reign  with 
vast  advantage.  Mr.  Budgett's  intuition  was  trained  by 
caution  and  forecast  till  it  was  fit  to  be  trusted. 

He  had  also,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  power  to  concen- 
trate his  attention  on  one  point.  He  cared  not  how  rapid 
the  succession  of  his  engagements  might  be.  He  would  go 
through  as  many  as  you  pleased ;  but  pass  to  a  new  one  he 
would  not  while  the  one  in  hand  was  incomplete.  No  sooner 
was  this  dismissed  than  out  came  his  quick  "  now  what  is  the 
next  thing  ?"  but  of  the  "  next  thing"  he  never  thought  till 
the  former  one  was  finished.  This  rapid  discernment,  this 
power  of  forecasting,  this  fixity  of  attention  on  one  thing, 


56  LIFE  IN   EARNEST. 

seem  to  constitute  the  chief  intellectual  features  of  his  mer* 
cantile  ability. 

That  ability  was  under  the  constant  impulse  of  an  invin- 
cible desire  to  act  and  to  succeed.  He  seemed  born  under  a 
decree  to  do.  Doing,  doing,  ever  doing,  his  nature  seemed 
to  abhor  an  idleness,  more  than  the  "  Nature"  of  the  old 
philosophers  abhorred  a  vacuum.  An  idle  moment  was  an 
irksome  moment ;  an  idle  hour  would  have  been  a  sort  oi 
purgatory.  No  sooner  was  one  engagement  out  of  hand  than 
his  instinct  within  him  seemed  to  cry  out,  "  Now  what  is  the 
next  thing  ?"  Even  in  taking  a  ride,  he  must  be  learning  or 
teaching  something.  In  his  letters,  he  sometimes  bitterly 
complains  that  he  had  not  sufficiently  improved  his  time ; 
and  among  such  of  his  memoranda  as  escaped  destruction  at 
his  own  hand,  one  note  tells  of  a  joyless  and  uncomfortable 
Sabbath, — "  and  no  wonder,  for  I  did  not  rise  till  half-past 
five  o'clock." 

His,  with  an  emphasis  almost  tremendous,  was  "  life 
in  earnest."  One  of  his  letters  to  a  friend,  written  when  he 
was  twenty-one,  has  the  following  remarks  on  the  way  to 
learn  the  value  of  time  : — 

"  You  think  that  if  you  were  obliged  to  labour  from 
morning  till  night  without  interruption,  this  would  teach 
you  the  value  of  time.  Is  not  this  a  mistake?  Can  any- 
thing so  effectually  teach  us  its  value  as  a  deep  conviction 
that  it  is  not  our  own,  but  an  important  talent  put  into  our 
hands,  for  which  we  must  give  a  strict  account  at  the  great, 
the  general  audit  of  all  our  accounts  with  our  Maker?  If 
so,  of  how  little  importance  is  it  to  us  what  may  be  the  nature 
or  quantity  of  our  engagements,  so  long  as  we  may  secure  at 
the  last  the  blest  plaudit  of  "  Well  done  .'"  from  Him  whose 
approbation  alone  it  is  that  gives  real  value  to  everything  in 
earth  or  heaven." 

As  his  intuition  was  guarded  by  forecast,  so  was  his  ac- 


PEESEVEKANOE.  57 

tivity  by  caution  and  perseverance.  "  Never  attempt,  or  ac- 
complish ;"  was  one  of  his  constant  maxims  And  conse- 
quently he  would  not  attempt  anything  till  he  saw  that  it 
might  be  achieved.  He  would  not  wait  till  it  was  easy ; 
enough  that  it  was  not  impossitJle.  That  settled,  the  path 
was  plain ;  to  work !  and  let  it  be  done.  Once  set  out  in 
an  undertaking,  nothing  roused  him  so  much  as  what  ordinary 
men  would  call  "  impossibilities."  Only  set  impossibilities 
before  him,  and  his  heart  rose  up  resistless  and  went  on. 
Such  was  his  own  power  that  he  believed  every  one  could 
make  his  way  as  he  had  done.  Not  long  before  his  death, 
he  heard  some  one  saying  he  wished  for  more  money.  "  Do 
you?  then  I  do  not,  I  have  quite  enough.  But  if  I  did 
wish  for  more  I  should  get  it."  He  would  often  say  that 
place  him  in  what  position  you  might  he  could  work  his  way 
on  ;  ay,  leave  him  without  a  shilling,  still  he  could  rise. 
His  faith  in  the  power  of  perseverance  was  unbounded.  In 
speaking  to  some  of  the  poorest  young  men  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  urging  them  to  self-improvement,  he  declared 
that  there  was  no  reason  why  they  might  not  every  one  of 
them  be  worth  ten  thousand  pounds.  Sir  Fowell  Buxton 
placed  his  confidence  in  "  ordinary  powers  and  extraordi- 
nary application."  So  do  most  men  who  accomplish  much, 
either  for  themselves  or  others.  The  man  who  has  genius 
without  perseverance  may  run  the  career  of  a  rocket,  but 
can  never  be  a  star  ;  he  that  has  perseverance  without 
genius  will  be  a  bright  and  steady  star,  but  can  never  be  »• 
sun  ;  he  that  has  genius  and  perseverance  will  be  the  sun  of 
his  own  system. 

From  what  has  been  said  about  his  habit  of  preconcert- 
ing a  negotiation  and  of  applying  only  to  one  thing  at  a 
time,  it  is  scarcely  needful  to  add,  that  love  of  system  was 
as  deeply  rooted  in  his  character  as  activity  or  persever- 
ance. 

3* 


58  CONTRADICTIONS. 

Critics  sometimes  censure  writers  of  fiction  for  allowing 
their  heroes  to  appear  in  aspects  inconsistent  one  with  tho 
other.  I  cannot  say  how  fictitious  heroes  ought  to  be  mo- 
delled. They,  perhaps,  had  better  be  all  proportionate  and 
statuesque.  But  as  to  the  actual  men  and  women  we  meet 
with  here  in  this  world  of  families,  churches,  markets,  and 
amusements,  they  are  very  far  from  being  a  rigidly  symme- 
trical race.  Indeed,  they  are  a  different  race  altogether, — a 
wayward,  ill-proportioned,  unaccountable  race,  constantly 
making  us  say,  "  Well,  he  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  I 
should  have  expected  to  do  that !" — a  race  framed  to  no  one 
standard,  responding  to  no  one  ideal,  conformable  to  no  one 
model ; — a  race  over  which  a  terrible  distortion  must  have 
come  since  it  sprang  forth  from  the  Creator's  hand.  Let 
the  critics  have  it  as  they  will,  nothing  is  so  natural  in  a  man 
as  contradictions.  A  painful  heart-sinking  sensitiveness  docs 
not  seem  to  fit  at  all  well  on  the  rapid  intuition,  the  endless 
activity,  the  inflexible  perseverance,  tho  strict  order,  which 
we  have  already  noted.  Yet,  there  it  was.  You  remember 
the  terror  inspired  by  the  hot-tempered  gentleman  who  was 
likely  to  become  his  tutor.  That  was  "  the  very  first  recol- 
lection of  importance,"  in  his  life.  Another  of  his  first  re- 
collections shows  how  nervously  excitable  he  was  in  child- 
hood : — "  I  remember  going  to  chapel  and  hearing  Adam 
Clarke  preach.  But  the  singing  so  affected  me,  I  burst  into 
tears ;  and  although  I  cried  as  gently  as  possible,  I  could 
Hot  refrain.  My  father  took  me  up  and  carried  me  out, 
talked  kindly  to  me,  and  told  me  I  need  not  be  terrified. 
But  it  had  so  affected  me,  that  I  was  obliged  to  be  taken  home." 
He  also  said,  in  speaking  of  his  childhood,  "  A  cross  word 
appeared  worse  than  a  blow ;  and  beneath  it  I  often  felt 
crushed,  crushed."  His  ideas  of  himself  were  singularly 
low.  In  his  letters,  he  speaks  to  his  familiar  friends  as  im- 
measurably beneath  them.  Mentally  and  religiously,  he 


GENERALISING.  59 

seemed  to  hold  himself  inferior  to  all.  With  this  sinking 
heart,  he  often  trembled  at  the  outset  of  an  enterprise  which 
brought  him  into  the  presence  of  others ;  but  let  them  only 
raise  serious  difficulties,  above  all  let  them  be  haughty  or 
harsh,  and  then  all  his  tremor  fled,  and  he  flushed  up  with 
the  determination  to  conquer. 

The  habit  of  deducing  a  general  lesson  from  a  particu- 
lar occurrence  has  already  been  noticed,  but  must  be  dis- 
tinctly borne  in  mind  as  one  of  the  notable  springs  of  his 
power.  From  the  pain  he  felt  at  the  thought  of  a  fiery  do- 
minie, he  learned  a  lesson  on  education ;  from  the  death  of 
the  donkey,  one  on  credit ;  from  the  failure  of  the  traveller 
in  his  mother's  shop,  one  on  the  necessity  of  adapting  your- 
self to  the  interest  of  others ;  and  so  he  generalised  as  he 
went  along,  and  stored  up  the  result  for  service  at  a  future 
day.  That  result  came  forth  in  those  maxims  by  which  he 
regulated  his  business  course,  and  which  he  would  ever 
maintain  at  the  cost  of  immediate  loss.  Some  men  glide 
amongst  events  like  sand  in  a  glass,  bearing  no  trace  of  what 
they  have  passed  through.  They  are  no  wiser  for  a  hundred 
lessons,  no  more  modest  for  a  hundred  failures,  no  more 
cautious  for  a  hundred  errors.  Others  pass  through  events 
like  waters  through  the  soil,  carrying  with  them  a  tinge  of 
all  they  traverse.  On  some  life  is  lost :  death  alone  can 
make  them  wiser.  On  others  no  event  falls  fruitless  ;  there 
is  for  them  an  improvement  and  an  instruction  in  all  things. 
To  the  unwise  the  past  is  an  exploded  match,  that  has 
flashed  and  missed,  and  is  useless.  To  the  wise  the  past  is 
a  steady  light,  shedding  beams  on  the  path  of  the  future. 
Young  man !  if  you  do  not  learn  from  the  things  that  befall 
yourself,  grey  hairs  will  be  no  glory  to  you. 

Any  one  would  say  that  he  who  combined  all  these  quali- 
ties would  be  a  remarkably  shrewd  man,  quick  to  descry  an 
advantage  and  resolute  to  press  it.  This  was  strikingly  the 


60      -  KEEK   TRADIWO. 

case  with  Mr.  Budgett,  and  formed  the  chief  deduction  from 
the  benevolence  of  his  character.  In  business  he  was  keen 
—deliberately,  consistently,  methodically  keen.  He  would 
buy  as  scarcely  any  other  man  could  buy  :  he  would  sell  ae 
scarcely  any  other  man  could  sell.  He  was  an  athlete  on  the 
arena  of  trade,  and  rejoiced  to  bear  off  the  prize.  He  was 
a  soldier  on  the  battle-field  of  bargains,  and  conquered  he 
would  not  be.  His  power  over  the  minds  of  others  was  im- 
mense, his  insight  into  their  character  piercing,  his  address  in 
managing  his  own  case  masterly,  and,  above  all,  his  purpose 
so  inflexible  that  no  regard  to  delicacy  or  to  appearances 
would  for  a  moment  beguile  him  from  his  object.  He  would 
accomplish  a  first  rate  transaction,  be  the  difficulty  what  it 
might.  That  secured,  his  word  was  as  gold,  and  generosity 
was  welcome  to  make  any  demand  on  his  gains.  But  in  the 
act  of  dealing  he  would  be  the  aptest  tradesman  in  the  trade. 
To  those  who  only  met  him  in  the  market  this  feature  of  his 
character  gave  an  unfavourable  impression.  They  frequently 
found  themselves  pressed  and  conquered,  and  naturally  felt 
sore.  To  those  who  knew  all  the  excellence  and  liberality 
which  lav  beneath  this  hard  mercantile  exterior,  it  appeared 
the  peculiarity  and  the  defect  of  an  uncommonly  worthy 
man,  yet  still  a  defect  and  a  peculiarity. 

Mr.  Budgett  justified,  to  his  own  mind,  this  habit  of  keen 
trading.  His  natural  inclination  led  him  to  it.  His  natu- 
ral ambition  was  for  commercial  conquest.  Such  being  the 
case,  it  was  not  difficult  to  find  maxims  which  appeared  to 
consecrate  keen  dealing.  These  maxims  were  such  as  these. 
— In  whatever  calling  a  Christian  is  found  he  ought  to  be  the 
best  in  his  calling ;  if  only  a  shoeblack,  he  ought  to  be  the 
best  shoeblack  in  the  neighbourhood.  Again,  It  is  your  duty 
to  buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and  sell  in  the  dearest.  Again, 
The  seller  must  not  pretend  to  judge  of  the  buyer's  business, 
nor  the  buyer  of  the  seller's  business.  Each  man  knows  his 


OUB   DUTY    TO   EXCEL.  61 

own  concerns.  The  buyer  will  not  give  more  for  goods  than 
they  are  worth  to  him,  and  the  seller  will  not  take  less  for 
goods  than  is  equal  to  their  value  to  him. 

Against  the  first  of  these  maxims  there  can  be  no  possible 
objection,  provided  its  application  is  duly  guarded.  To  aim 
at  excellence  is  an  unquestionable  duty.  He  that  can  see 
others  excel  him  in  his  own  line  without  endeavouring  to  im- 
prove, is  inert  and  ignoble.  But  from  what  motive  must  he 
aim  at  excellence  ?  Is  it  for  his  personal  advantage  that  he 
may  shine  and  gather  ?  or  is  it  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  God 
that  he  may  fulfil  his  calling  in  the  sphere  wherein  Provi- 
dence has  placed  him ;  and  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  his  neigh- 
bour, that  he  may,  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability,  perform  his 
part  in  the  common  service  of  man  ?  The  gospel  leaves  no 
doubt  on  this  question.  To  improve  our  talent  that  we  may 
gratefully  and  faithfully  fulfil  the  trust  which  the  great  Mas- 
ter has  committed  to  us,  that  we  may  effectually  perform  our 
part  in  the  labour  and  toil  of  our  struggling  human  family, 
— this  is  the  spirit  of  Christ.  To  improve  our  talent  that 
we  may  outrun,  eclipse,  and  conquer  others,  that  we  may 
enrich  and  exalt  ourselves, — this  is  the  spirit  of  the  world. 
Diligence  may  be  animated  by  cither  of  these  opposite  spirits. 
Right  and  wrong  may  walk  in  the  same  track  and  be  covered 
with  the  same  mantle.  You  are  endeavouring  to  excel ;  but 
as  you  think,  not  from  any  ambitious  motive.  The  test  of 
that  lies  here  :  How  do  you  use  your  proficiency  ?  Do  you 
habitually  use  it  so  as  to  magnify  God's  great  law  of  loving 
your  neighbour  as  yourself?  Or  do  you  habitually  use  it  so 
as  to  convince  your  neighbour  that  if  you  can  advantage 
yourself  you  disregard  him  ?  To  acquire  proficiency  in  your 
calling  is  your  bounden  duty  to  God  and  man.  But  that 
proficiency  acquired,  you  must  use  it  only  in  such  a  way  as 
will  honour  God's  authority,  and  as  will  respect  your  neigh- 
bour's rights.  If  a  merchant,  it  is  doubtless  your  duty  to 


62  WHAT   IS   EXCELLENCE. 

be  the  best  merchant  possible.  But  is  he  the  best  merchant 
who,  having  superior  tact,  relentlessly  uses  that  superior  tact, 
in  every  transaction,  to  thwart  and  outdo  others,  regardless 
whether  or  not  he  shall  appear  to  them  inconsiderate  and  un- 
kind? He  may  be  the  ablest  merchant ;  but  that  is  all  The 
best  shoeblack  does  not  mean  the  shoeblack  who  manages  to 
worry  people  out  of  the  greatest  amount  of  money,  but  the 
shoeblack  who  does  his  work  in  the  best  possible  way,  and 
then  only  seeks  a  just  and  reasonable  reward.  The  best 
cabman  is  not  the  man  who  drives  in  the  best  style  and  then 
teases  you  till  you  overpay  him,  but  the  man  who  drives  in 
the  very  best  style  and  is  content  with  his  just  wages.  So 
the  best  merchant  is  not  the  man  who  best  understands  his 
business  and  contrives  to  bargain  others  out  of  their  reason- 
able profits,  but  he  who  best  understands  his  business  and 
never  takes  advantage  of  any  man's  ignorance,  of  any  man's 
necessity, — who  never  forgets  that  the  interests  of  others  are 
as  sacred  as  his  own.  The  best  merchant  is  he  whose  busi- 
ness talent  is  of  the  highest  order  and  improved  to  the 
highest  pitch,  but  never  used  so  as  to  dishonour  God  or 
wrong  man. 

"  But  who  ever  thinks  about  God  in  business  ?  I  think 
about  God  at  church  ;  but  in  business  one  has  something 
else  to  think  about.  Men  in  a  market  are  not  likely  to  think 
about  God."  Perhaps  not ;  but  men  in  a  market  have  great 
need  to  think  about  God.  No  bargain  is  ever  made  in  which 
God  is  not  concerned.  He  is  the  eternal  and  the  universal 
guardian  of  justice.  You  never  can  exclude  Him  from  any 
matter  in  which  the  rights  of  his  offspring  are  involved. 
Against  all  who  would  wrong  you,  he  takes  your  part. 
Against  you,  he  takes  the  part  of  all  you  would  wrong.  Over 
all  the  rights  of  his  creatures  his  own  hand  is  evermore  spread 
as  a  buckler.  No  man  can  wound  your  rights  without  smiting 
that  hand.  You  can  wound  no  man's  rights  without  smiting 


BUYING   IN   THE   CHEAPEST   MABKET.  63 

it.  See  that  you  smite  it  not,  for  that  great  right  hand  of 
justice  holds  a  tremendous  sword. 

The  maxim,  "  It  is  my  duty  to  buy  in  the  cheapest 
market,  and  to  sell  in  the  dearest ;"  has  a  manifest  basis  of 
truth.  It  would  be  wrong  for  a  merchant  to  go  and  buy  tea 
at  eighteenpence  per  pound  when  he  knew  another  market 
where  he  could  get  the  same  tea  for  fourteen.  It  would  be 
wrong  for  him  to  neglect  a  market  where  the  price  was 
eighteen,  and  to  sell  in  one  where  it  was  fourteen.  In  either 
of  these  cases,  he  would  display  a  negligence  which,  if  ha- 
bitual, must  end  in  ruin.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  go  to  the 
cheapest  market,  and  another  thing,  when  there,  to  set  your 
heart  on  buying  so  cheaply  that  you  will  wrench  from  the 
anxious  seller  every  hope  of  an  honest  profit. 

"  But  the  buyer  must  not  pretend  to  be  judge  of  the  sel- 
ler's business.  He  knows  at  what  price  it  will  answer  his 
purpose  to  sell ;  the  buyer  knows  at  what  price  it  will  answer 
his  purpose  to  buy.  Every  man  can  take  care  of  his  own  in- 
terests." This  seems  fair ;  and  when  two  men  meet  on  equal 
ground,  it  is  fair.  The  manufacturer  ought  to  be  the  best 
judge  how  many  shillings  a  bale  of  cotton  is  worth  to  him. 
The  cotton  merchant  ought  to  be  the  best  judge  how  many 
shillings  are  worth  his  bale  of  cotton  to  him.  The  buyer  may 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  seller  will  not  take  any  sum  but 
one  which  is,  just  then,  of  more  value  to  him  than  the  goods. 
The  seller  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  buyer  will  not  give 
any  sum  but  one  which  is,  just  then,  of  less  value  to  him  than 
the  goods.  The  argument,  then,  seems  complete :  "  I  may  buy 
as  cheap  as  I  can,  and  sell  as  dear  as  I  can  ;  for  every  one 
with  whom  I  deal  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own  interests."  It 
is  not  always  that  a  piece  of  reasoning  leads  one  to  a  con- 
clusion so  comfortable.  But  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
many  an  honourable  man  should  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  rea- 
soning which  seems  so  fair,  when  the  conclusion  is  so  inviting. 


64:  EVERT  MAN  FOB  HIMSELF. 

Admit  two  things ;  that  the  parties  are  equally  solvent) 
that  the  parties  are  equally  shrewd  :  and  then,  as  a  mere 
piece  of  dry  mechanism,  your  principle  may  stand  tolerably 
upright.  But  two  men  do  not  meet  as  two  machines ;  they 
are  two  brothers.  Each  one  is  bound  to  look  not  only  "  ou 
his  own  things,  but  also  on  the  things  of  another."  You 
cannot  divest  yourself  of  this  duty.  God  has  ordained  it, 
and  while  God  is  love  the  law  is  unalterable.  In  your  neigh- 
bour you  are  bound  to  see  a  brother  whose  feelings,  whose 
reputation,  whose  property,  whose  family,  are  all  as  sacred 
as  your  own.  "  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man 
another's  wealth,"  is  a  precept  weightier  than  all  the  dicta 
of  the  exchange.  It  is  highly  convenient  to  evade  this  pre- 
cept by  assuring  yourself  that  every  man  will  look  to  his 
own  interests,  and  that  therefore  you  may  just  gripe  all  that 
others  will  let  you  gripe.  But,  in  doing  so,  you  let  yourself 
down  from  the  level  of  a  Christian  to  the  level  of  a  scrambler. 
Even  amongst  men  who  meet  on  equal  terms,  commerce,  on 
your  principle,  is  not  a  system  of  mutual  services,  but  a 
system  of  mutual  supplanting.  But  among  men  who  meet 
upon  unequal  terms,  that  principle  will  bear  you  out  in  cruel 
oppression.  A  clothmaker  offers  to  a  cloth  merchant  a  parcel 
of  cloth.  His  manner,  or  something  else,  tells  the  merchant 
that  he  is  under  the  necessity  of  finding  money.  He  asks  a 
fair  price.  According  to  the  best  judgment  of  the  merchant, 
that  price  would  afford  the  maker  a  fair  remuneration 
and  would  afford  himself  a  fair  profit.  But  he  knows,  or  he 
guesses,  that  money  happens  to  be,  at  that  moment,  of  ex- 
orbitant value  to  his  neighbour.  On  this  conviction  he  re- 
fuses the  fair  price,  and  offers  one  that  would  double  his  own 
profit,  but  would  leave  the  other  without  any  profit,  or  with 
a  loss.  The  other  hesitates,  reasons,  entreats,  but  at  last 
reluctantly  yields.  The  merchant  exults  in  a  good  bargain. 
A  good  bargain ;  is  that  what  you  call  it  ?  Why,  the  thing 


UNFAIR  ADVANTAGE.  65 

you  have  done  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  taking  advan- 
tage of  your  neighbour's  necessity  to  deprive  him  of  the  just 
reward  of  his  labour,  and  to  put  it  in  your  own  pocket. 
"  But  I  am  not  bound  to  look  after  another  man's  interests." 
Yes,  you  are.  God  has  bound  you  to  it.  He  has  bound  all 
other  men  to  do  the  same  to  you.  "  But,  if  my  money  were 
not  of  more  value  than  his  goods,  why  did  he  accept  it  ?  I 
did  not  force  him."  Yes,  you  did ;  as  far  as  in  you  lay. 
You  saw  you  had  him  in  a  position  where  he  must  either 
submit  to  the  loss  you  imposed  upon  him  or  risk  a  heavier. 
You  took  advantage  of  him.  You  believed  that  the  whole 
profits,  fairly  divided,  would  leave  him  a  share  and  you  a 
share.  You  saw  a  chance  of  getting  his  share  for  yourself, 
and  you  seized  it.  It  was  not  fair.  It  was  not  brotherly. 
It  was  not  after  the  will  of  God.  All  the  mercantile  maxims 
in  the  world  will  not  consecrate  it.  You  have  deprived  the 
labourer  of  his  hire.  You  have  denied  your  brother  his 
equal  rights.  Had  you  done  your  duty,  two  hearts  would 
have  been  the  better.  By  foregoing  this  opportunity  of  ex- 
cessive gain,  your  own  heart  would  have  gathered  fresh 
strength  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy  ;  by  seeing  your  con- 
sideration, your  neighbour's  heart  would  have  gained  fresh 
esteem  for  his  fellow  men  and  fresh  courage  for  his  struggle. 
But«now,  two  hearts  are  worse.  Yours  is  contracting  around 
its  ill-gotten  profits  ;  his  is  soured  and  distrustful.  "  Hearts," 
you  say,  "  what  have  I  to  do  with  hearts  ?  Hearts  are 
neither  pounds,  shillings,  nor  pence."  Very  true ;  they  are  not : 
and  if  all  your  arguments  lie  within  those  three  columns,  I 
have  no  chance  of  convincing  you.  But  you  will  soon  be  in  a 
world  where  the"re  are  neither  pounds,  shillings,  nor  pence. 

As  a  regular  matter  of  business,  it  can  never  be  your 
duty  to  purchase  or  to  sell  on  terms  which  will  not  yield  you 
"  a  living  profit."  This  would  be  to  prepare  ruin  for  your- 
self and  loss  for  others.  It  is  certainly  incumbent  upon  you 


66  APPEARANCE   OF  EVIL. 

to  use  all  your  tact  and  foresight  to  make  each  transaction 
pay.  True,  a  case  may  arise  wherein  you  would  essentially 
serve  a  neighbour  by  making  a  purchase  or  a  sale  on  terms 
that  would  be  of  no  advantage  to  yourself.  In  such  a  case, 
you  might  save  a  man  from  all  the  social  calamities  and  the 
moral  dangers  of  bankruptcy,  and  thus  perform  a  higher  be- 
nevolence than  by  a  mere  gift.  It  may,  therefore,  happen 
that  cases  will  arise  wherein  it  is  right  to  forego  any  advan- 
tage to  yourself,  in  order  to  save,  or  even  to  serve,  another. 
But  it  never  can  happen  that  a  case  should  arise  where  you 
may  wrong  another  to  serve  yourself.  This  you  certainly  do, 
whenever,  to  the  best  of  your  judgment,  you  deprive  anotJtcr 
of  his  profits  to  double  your  own.  Such  a  transaction  can 
never  be  justified  by  any  force  of  circumstances,  any  tra- 
ditional sanction  of  "  the  trade,"  or  any  galaxy  of  examples. 
"  Live,  and  let  live,"  is  a  good  old  maxim  ;  with  far  more 
pith  and  sap  in  it  than  your  dry  hollow  sophistry  about  "My 
money  being  of  more  value  to  him  than  his  goods."  To  be 
sure  it  is,  just  then.  But  if  that  principle  had  justice  in  it, 
God  would  never  have  laid  a  curse  upon  usury. 

A  man  engaged  in  business,  who  makes  a  profession  of 
piety,  is  bound  not  only  to  maintain  substantial  integri- 
ty, but  also  to  regard  the  impression  his  conduct  will  make 
upon  men  of  the  world.  This  is  demanded  of  him  by  the 
honour  of  religion.  He  ought  to  aim  at  two  things  ;  first, 
at  showing  that  his  piety  does  not  render  him  careless  or  in- 
competent ;  secondly,  at  showing  that  it  does  render  him 
just  and  brotherly.  The  one  and  the  other  of  these  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  ;  the  first  as  much  as  the  second.  Satan  is 
perpetually  preaching  to  men,  that  if  they  are  to  succeed, 
they  must  be  on  his  side.  Multitudes  believe  him.  Multi- 
tudes abandon  all  hope  of  at  the  same  time  serving  God  and 
making  their  way.  They  take  it  for  granted,  that  one  of 
two  alternatives  must  be  chosen :  an  abortive  career  in  this 


PIETY   AND   SUCCESS.  67 

life,  or  a  neglect  of  the  life  to  come.  Perhaps  not  without  a 
pang,  they  choose  the  latter.  Every  servant  of  God,  then, 
who  stands  up  on  that  crowded  field  of  commerce,  and  holds 
his  ground,  and  goes  forward  and  earns  a  good  success,  main- 
taining his  steadfastness  the  while,  and  duly  remembering 
things  eternal,  is  a  living  discomfiture  of  Satan's  boast,  that 
men  must  serve  him  or  go  to  wreck.  Every  such  man  is  a 
proclamation  to  thousands  that  they  may  renounce  the  devil, 
renounce  his  works,  renounce  all  unrighteousness,  renounce 
the  evil  ways  of  the  world,  and  yet  succeed.  But  if  you  do 
renounce  him,  remember  that  his  interest  and  his  art  will  be  to 
make  you  "  slothful  in  business,"  that  he  may  point  you  out  as 
another  proof  that  piety  and  success  do  not  dwell  together. 

But  while  you  outdo  the  worldling  in  tact,  in  diligence, 
and  in  knowledge  of  your  business,  remember  that  you  are 
charged  with  the  solemn  responsibility  of  adorning  the  gos- 
pel. Let  integrity  and  nobleness  stamp  your  character.  For 
the  sake  of  Christ,  cherish  these,  and  manifest  them.  Do 
not  give  men  the  impression  that  you  gripe,  and  snatch,  and 
peel.  Show  them  that  they  cannot  overreach  you ;  show 
them  that  you  would  not  overreach  them.  Do  not  keep  all 
your  generosity  for  private  life.  Let  not  severe  dealings  be 
atoned  for  by  liberal  gifts.  Do  endeavour  to  render  every 
man  full  justice  ;  not  only  by  paying  him  all  you  promise  to 
pay,  but  also  by  offering  him  what,  in  your  conscience,  you 
believe  allows  to  him  a  fair  remuneration,  and  to  you  a  fair 
chance.  Strictly  paying  all  you  promise  to  pay,  may  arise 
from  selfishness,  from  a  pure  regard  to  your  own  credit  and 
standing,  irrespective  of  one  generous  feeling  as  to  the  inter- 
ests of  those  with  whom  you  have  to  deal.  Often  you  can- 
not help  having  a  judgment  as  to  whether  or  not  a  transac- 
tion will  pay  your  neighbour.  Whenever  a  case  arises  where 
you  have  a  chance,  to  the  best  of  your  belief,  of  adding  to 
your  own  profits  by  robbing  another  of  his,  surely  then  the 


68  DUTIES   AlfD   NO  DUTIES. 

Christian  course  is  both  plain  and  imperative.  You  are 
bound  to  see  that  your  transactions  are  safe  ;  for  in  that 
your  character,' your  usefulness,  and  the  interests  of  all  with 
•whom  you  have  to  do  are  involved.  You  are  bound  to  se- 
cure a  fair  profit ;  for  it  is  God's  law  that  labour  shall  have 
its  reward,  and  that  you  should  provide  for  your  own.  But 
you  are  not  bound  to  make  a  fortune  ;  you  are  not  bound  to 
gain  money  fast ;  and  no  intention  as  to  the  after  use  of 
money  can  justify  you  in  urging  your  profits  to  a  point  which 
robs  another  of  his  just  reward. 

Commerce  is  a  system  of  mutual  services.  The  very 
structure  of  it  protests  against  making  self  your  centre.  He 
receives  the  greatest  reward  who  most  successfully  adapts 
his  services  to  the  general  need.  Herein,  commerce  bears 
the  imprint  of  God's  great  law  of  brotherhood.  Every  man 
who  enters  into  trade,  proclaims,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily, 
that  he  was  not  sent  into  this  world  to  wait  upon  himself, 
but  to  find  his  own  welfare  in  working  for  his  neighbour. 
A  man  does  not  learn  to  make  shoes  because  he  means  to 
display  new  shoes  every  day,  but  because  he  knows  all  people 
want  shoes.  A  man  does  not  learn  to  make  hats  because  he 
has  a  fancy  to  mount  a  new  hat  every  week,  but  because  he 
knows  all  the  world  want  hats.  A  man  does  not  learn  to 
spin  cotton  because  he  means  to  heap  up  mountains  of  yarn, 
but  because  he  knows  yarn  is  a  general  necessary.  A-  man 
does  not  study  law  because  he  means  to  be  perpetually  in 
litigation,  but  because  he  is  aware  that  some  one  is  always  in 
need  of  advice.  A  man  docs  not  learn  to  cure  colic  be- 
cause he  expects  to  be  always  in  pain,  but  because  he  knows 
some  one  is  always  in  need  of  cure.  Thus,  you  go  on  ;  and 
you  ever  find  that  it  is  the  general  service  which  calls  for 
and  determines  the  individual  proficiency.  Thus  God  places 
on  the  very  portal  of  life  a  plain  declaration  that  we  arc  all 
brethren  ;  that  none  of  us  is  here  for  his  own  pleasure ;  that 


SELF   AND   PELF.  fl9 

the  true  path  for  any  man  to  follow,  is  that  whereto  the  ne- 
cessities of  his  fellow  men  most  loudly  call  him  ;  that  in 
pursuing  the  general  service,  we  reap  our  highest  good  ; 
that,  in  neglecting  the  general  service,  and  regarding  only 
our  personal  tastes,  we  sink  into  worthlessness  and  want ; 
that,  therefore,  the  man  who,  while  ostensibly  employed  for 
the  public,  is  only  bent  on  his  own  promotion,  is  false  to 
God's  design,  false  to  the  brotherhood  of  man,  false  to  his 
own  calling  and  dignity ;  a  poor  and  pitiful  earthworm,  seek- 
ing his  God,  his  heritage,  his  reward,  his  heaven,  in  this  van- 
ishing world  alone. 

"But,  I  must  look  after  myself;  that  is  my  first  duty." 
Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  Suppose  that  it  is  so.  You  are,  say, 
a  grocer.  Then,  taking  it  for  granted  that  your  first  duty  is 
to  look  after  yourself,  of  course  you  will  resolve  to  be  the 
richest  grocer  in  the  town  ;  and  as  to  the  public,  the  public 
is  not  a  living  thing,  a  number  of  your  own  brothers  and 
sisters, — it  is  only  the  rude  mass  of  ore  from  which  you  will 
extract  the  gold.  You  will  strain  every  nerve  to  please  the 
public,  but  not  care  a  whit  whether  you  advantage  it  or  not 
so  that  you  only  nett  a  rich  profit  every  week.  You  do  not 
study  of  how  much  use  you  can  be  to  the  public,  but  of  how 
much  use  you  can  make  the  public  to  you.  Then,  your 
place  is  filled  up,  your  work  is  done,  society  is  a  gainer  by 
your  diligence  and  enterprise :  but  who  has  to  thank  you  ? 
Not  God ;  you  did  it  not  for  his  sake.  Not  man  ;  you  did 
it  not  for  his  sake.  God  and  man  you  put  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  set  up  yourself  as  the  power  you  would  serve. 
Then,  what  shall  your  reward  be?  Of  course,  what  you 
strove  for, — pelf,  pelf,  pelf  alone.  That  one  thing  you  de- 
sired ;  that  one  thing  you  sought  after.  Take  it,  then,  take 
it ;  eat  it,  drink  it,  wear  it,  sit  upon  it,  ride  upon  it,  build  it 
in  walls,  display  it  in  apartments,  spread  it  out  in  lands, 
count  it,  lay  it  up,  write  it  in  large  books,  invest  it  in  sure 


70  MAN   AND  NATUXE. 

banks,  engross  it  in  solemn  deeds,  record  it  in  legal  testa* 
ments.  clutch,  carry,  and  cherish  it  right  up  to  the  door  of 
death  ;  then  go  forth  and  learn  how  poor  a  wretch  is  he, 
who,  imagining  that  a  man's  life  consisteth  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  he  possesscth,  lays  up  treasure  for  himself,  but 
is*  not  rich  toward  God. 

But,  suppose  that  instead  of  taking  it  for  granted  that 
your  first  duty  is  to  look  after  yourself,  you  should  reason 
something  after  this  manner : — "  Here  1  am.  I  have  cot 
placed  myself  here.  A  little  while  ago  and  I  was  not.  I 
have  come  forth  from  the  hollow  of  the  Creator's  hand.  He 
has  not  sent  me  here  to  sit  still ;  even  the  stones  are  use- 
ful to  mankind.  He  means  me  to  be  useful.  I  have 
something  to  do.  What  is  it,  and  how  should  it  be  done  ? 
All  circumstances  say  that  I  am  to  do  the  work  of  a  grocer. 
I  have  been  taught  this ;  I  can  do  it  best.  In  this  work,  I 
join  with  the  tea  tree  and  the  coffee  tree,  with  the  sweet 
cane,  with  the  rice  fields,  with  the  wonderful  plants  that 
yield  such  pleasant  fruits,  such  delicious  spices,  with  the  sun 
that  warms  them,  with  the  clouds  that  water  them,  with  the 
air  that  quickens  them,  with  the  earth  that  bears  them,  with 
the  labourers  of  harvest-field  and  vintage,  with  the  mariners 
that  carry  them  over  sea,  with  the  winds  whereby  they  are 
wafted,  and  the  waves  whereby  they  are  borne.  All  this  is 
but  God's  chain  of  agencies  for  providing  these  good  things 
to  regale  and  to  nourish  men  ;  and  into  that  chain  of  agen- 
cies I  fall,  the  last  link,  directly  conveying  the  creatures  of 
God  into  the  hand  of  those  for  whom  they  have  been  prepar- 
ing by  all  my  precursors.  Welcome,  then,  welcome  my 
task  !  Happy  it  is  to  labour  where  all  nature  around,  set  in 
motion  direct  by  the  Almighty's  power,  is  constantly  for- 
warding work  to  my  hand.  Did  he  that  placed  me  here 
mean  me  to  do  my  work  loosely,  negligently,  slothfully? 
Surely  not ;  see  how  these  fruits  are  made,  how  perfectly, 


DUTY   AND   INTEBEST.  Tl 

how  wholesomely,  how  pleasantly.  All  He  has  done  by  his 
own  hand  in  the  process  of  provision  is  done  well.  What  I 
do,  must  be  done  well.  '  Be  not  slothful  in  business,'  comes 
home  to  my  ear  from  the  double  voices  of  revelation,  and  of 
its  echo,  nature.  I  must  not  be  slothful ;  God  has  sent  me 
to  work,  man  needs  to  be  served.  Then,  I  am  here  to  do  all 
that  I  can  do  to  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind,  and  so  ful- 
fil the  appointment  of  my  Maker." 

If  you  take  this  view,  then  you  have  every  motive  to 
diligence  and  to  proficiency  which  ought  to  be  powerful 
with  an  immortal  creature  of  the  great  Father.  You  cease 
to  be  a  mere  appetite, — craving,  and  craving,  and  consuming, 
and  going  on  to  crave.  You  become  a  helper  to  the  happi- 
ness of  the  universe,  a  co-worker  in  the  task  of  Providence, 
an  agent  of  the  benignant  Lord  above  us,  a  finisher  of  the 
work  of  suns  and  showers.  You  become  a  servant  of  God 
and  a  servant  of  man  ;  presenting  yourself  to  the  Father  of 
all  as  a  labourer  in  the  great  store  where  he  lays  up  a  provi- 
sion for  his  family.  Surely  this  position  is  more  cheerful, 
more  genial,  more  noble,  more  worthy  to  elicit  all  the  ener- 
gies of  a  rational  being,  than  the  grovelling  destiny  of  just 
feeding  your  own  desires. 

"  Then,  I  am  to  look  after  the  interests  of  other  people, 
and  leave  my  own  to  look  after  themselves."  If  by  this  you 
mean  that  you  are  to  neglect  your  duties,  then,  with  all  the 
authority  of  God's  command,  we  answer,  No  !  If  you  mean 
that,  performing  all  your  duties  faithfully,  you  are  to  trust 
Providence  with  your  interests,  then  we  answer,  Yes  !  Self 
cries,  Mind  your  interests.  Wisdom  cries,  Mind  your  du- 
ties. And  believe  that  in  fulfilling  your  duties  you  are 
really  taking  the  best  and  surest  way  to  true  prosperity, 
which  depends  alone  on  the  smile  of  God.  Duty  binds  you 
to  provide  for  your  own.  Duty  binds  you  to  make  your  trans- 
actions pay ;  for  otherwise  you  do  not  fulfil  your  calling,  but 


72  LOOKING   AFTER  MYSELF. 

fail  in  it.  Duty  sanctions  you  in  taking  a  fit  reward  for 
labour,  for  that  is  God's  universal  law.  Duty  supplies  you 
with  every  motive  for  being  a  first-rate  man  of  business. 
And  the  question  is  not  whether  you  will  be  negligent  or 
diligent,  expert  or  useless  ;  but,  whether  you  will  work  as  a 
mere  self-seeking  animal,  neither  caring  to  please  God  nor 
to  profit  man,  or  work  as  a  Christian,  as  a  child  of  God, 
taking  an  impulse  from  the  Divine  Father  to  lay  out  your 
abilities  in  promoting  the  universal  weal. 

••  Ah  !  but  I  don't  understand  that.  It  is  too  transcen- 
dental for  mo.  I  do  understand  minding  my  own  interests. 
That  is  a  motive  one  feels.  If  I  tried  to  live  by  the  other 
motive,  it  would  be  only  sham.  I  must  be  content  to  say, 
'  My  business  is  to  do  what  I  can  for  myself.'  "  Yes,  that 
is  true.  You  must  be  content  to  say  it ;  or,  whether  you 
say  it  or  not,  you  must  be  content  to  live  by  it,  so  long  as 
you  have  within  you  that  heart  which  dictates  such  speeches. 
What  do  you  know  about  being  a  child  of  God,  and  feeling 
like  a  child  of  God,  and  looking  upon  gains  and  duties  with 
the  eye  of  a  child  of  God,  and  trusting  your  own  interests 
to  the  heavenly  Father  with  the  faith  of  a  child  of  God  ? 
You  !  Why,  you  live  to  buy  and  sell,  and  get  gain.  You 
desire  nothing  better.  You  dream  of  nothing  nobler. 

"  The  multiplication  table  is  your  creed, 
Your  paternoster,  and  your  decalogue." 

You  do  not  cheat  or  steal ;  you  know  better.  That  would 
be  the  way  to  lose,  not  gain.  It  would  not  serve  in  the  long 
run.  That  is  your  chief  objection  to  it.  It  would  be  short- 
sighted selfishness.  Then,  yours  is  also  short-sighted  self- 
ishness ;  it  will  not  answer  in  the  long  run.  It  may  servo 
your  turn  to-day,  but  look  before  you.  You  are  not  a  ma- 
chine constructed  to  catch  money  ;  you  were  made  for  some- 
thing else.  You  have  another  life  to  live, — a  life  where 


THE   OTHER   HEART.  78 

wealth  is  not  reckoned  in  coins,  but  in  the  commendation  of 
God.  You  will  not  hold  up  your  commercial  countenance 
in  that  day,  with  a  shiny  leer  upon  it,  and  say  you  leave 
such  deep  points  to  others,  but  as  for  you,  you  go  ahead. 
I  tell  you,  you  are  not  a  money-making  machine.  You  are 
a  man,  God's  offspring,  our  brother.  God's  claims  are  upon 
you;  man's  claims  are  upon  you;  immortality  is  within 
you;  judgment  is  before  you;  and  every  aspiration  you 
waste  upon  self,  is  a  step  towards  eternal  poverty. 

"  But,  I  do  not  understand  these  high  views  of  business 
life.  I  only  understand  business  to  be,  doing  the  best  I  can 
for  myself."  Of  course  you  do  not  understand  them.  That 
is  just  what  I  said.  And  you  will  never  understand  them, 
while  you  keep  that  same  heart  unchanged.  If  you  profess 
to  understand  them  with  that  heart,  it  will  be  a  miserable 
mistake,  or  a  more  miserable  hypocrisy.  No,  no  !  to  under- 
stand God's  ways,  you  must  be  God's  child.  To  see  the  di- 
vine side  of  things,  you  must  be  born  from  above,  born 
again,  made  another  being ;  must  pass  through  a  change  as 
great  for  your  soul  as  the  change  is  to  an  infant  when  it  is 
ushered  forth  from  dark  existence  into  bright  and  breath- 
ing life.  You  must  have  a  new  heart,  a  heart  created  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  God's  image ;  a  heart  that  loves  much,  be- 
cause much  has  been  forgiven  ;  a  heart  that  burns  to  show 
its  love  ;  a  heart  that  feels  all  men  are  its  brothers  ;  a  heart 
that,  like  God  and  like  his  Christ,  loves  mankind  deeply, 
and  swells  with  fulness  of  good  will.  With  such  a  heart, 
your  views  of  life,  of  business,  of  duty,  would  undergo  a 
right  memorable  change.  Now,  if  you  would  rather  be  a 
conscious  child  of  God  than  a  pitiful  grub,  moiling  amid  pelf 
without  one  hope  beyond  it,  you  must  stop  where  you  are, 
and  call  upon  God  and  ask  him  to  open  your  eyes,  and  take 
his  holy  word  and  search  out  the  way ;  and  Be  will  teach 
you.  Your  heart  will  grow  soft,  you  will  repent  of  the  past, 
4 


74  MAKING  UP  A  MAW. 

you  will  discover  an  escape  through  the  merits  of  Christy 
you  will  find  in  him  an  advocate,  you  will  obtain  mercy ; 
and,  hereafter,  you  will  prove  that  a  man  may  diligently  ply 
his  calling  with  the  smile  of  God,  the  love  of  Christ,  the  law 
of  charity,  the  hope  of  immortal  joy,  all  present  to  illuminate 
his  path  and  to  dignify  his  toil. 

We  have  been  led  into  this  digression  by  the  mention 
of  Mr.  Budgett's  habitual  keenness  in  trade.  As  we  have 
said,  he  justified  to  his  own  mind  his  habit  in  this  respect 
on  principles  which  appeared  sound  and  fair.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that,  in  the  heat  of  a  negotiation,  he  never  went 
beyond  even  what  his  own  principles  would  sustain.  It  is 
probable  that,  yielding  to  his  natural  bent  and  eagerness, 
he  sometimes  did.  But  whenever  he  discovered  such  a  case 
his  self-condemnation  was  bitter.  Whenever  such  a  case 
was  pointed  out  to  him,  his  confession  of  the  fault,  his  hum- 
bling of  himself,  were  prompt  and  most  instructive.  His 
habitual,  earnest  aim  was  at  unimpeachable  integrity.  That 
his  rigid  bargain-making  did  not  arise  from  a  love  of  money, 
from  selfish  ambition,  from  indifference  to  the  interests  of 
others,  his  whole  life  amply  testifies.  It  arose  solely  from 
his  natural  passion  for  successful  trade.  It  was  hi  him, 
what  the  passion  for  shooting  was  in  Buxton.  It  assorted 
ill  with  his  entire  being,  but  there  it  was.  It  prevented 
those  who  did  not  know  the  whole  man  from  appreciating 
his  extraordinary  worth.  It  cost  him,  especially  in  his 
earlier  career,  much  ill-will.  It  was  tJie  defect  of  his  cha- 
racter ;  and  I  set  it  out  broadly,  preferring  that  his  admirers 
should  think  I  have  said  too  much,  rather  than  that  general 
readers  should  suspect  I  was  making  up  a  man.  It  is  for 
general  readers  I  write ;  and  they  are  far  more  likely  to  be 
profited  by  the  study  of  a  real  man  with  a  blemish,  than  of 
one  all  beautiful  whom  they  suspect  to  be  imaginary. 

One  would  hardly  have  anticipated,  as  features  of  A  mind 


WATTS'  HYMNS.  75 

BO  essentially  commercial,  a  strong  love  of  poetry  and  of  the 
beautiful  in  nature.  But  no  element  of  his  character  was 
earlier  or  more  permanently  displayed  than'  this.  You  will 
remember  that  the  first  indulgence  wherewith  he  gratified 
himself,  out  of  the  fruits  of  his  early  trading,  was  a  copy  of 
Wesley's  Hymns ;  and  that,  possessed  of  it,  he  felt  himself 
"  a  rich  and  happy  boy."  At  a  yet  earlier  period,  his  passion 
for  poetry  had  been  developed.  Before  the  family  removed 
to  Coleford,  he  had  become  possessed  of  a  treasure  which 
has  awoke  in  the  bosom  of  millions  of  children  the  first  sym- 
pathy with  sacred  song,  and  which  doubtless  tended  to  form 
the  taste  which  he  afterwards  gratified  by  the  noble  lyrics 
of  Charles  Wesley. 

"  About  this  time  [shortly  after  they  removed,]  my  father 
unpacked  his  large  chest  of  books,  and  every  search  was 
made  for  my  much  loved  and  only  canvass-covered  book, 
Watts'  Children's  Hymns  ;  but,  alas  !  all  in  vain.  And, 
strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  did  not  occur  to  my  mind,  for  a 
year  or  two,  that  another  could  be  obtained.  My  attachment 
to  it  was  indescribable ;  and  for  weeks  and  months  I  would 
frequently  be  inquiring  of  my  father,  and  getting  him  to 
search  his  chest  to  see  if  it  could  not  be  found.  My  peace 
seemed  to  depend  upon  it." 

Andrew  Fletcher,  of  Saltoun,  tells  of  a  wise  man  who 
said,  that  "  if  one  were  permitted  to  make  all  the  ballads  of 
a  nation  he  did  not  care  who  made  the  laws."  But  since 
the  days  of  Watts  and  Wesley,  the  ballad  has  lost  much  of 
its  power.  What  James  Montgomery  calls  the  "  invention  " 
of  the  hymn  has  been  fatal  to  the  ballad.  In  the  family, 
the  congregation,  the  Sunday-school,  and  the  infant  school, 
the  children  of  the  country  have  been  made  acquainted  with 
productions  familiar  as  the  ballad,  and  far  loftier  ;  so  that 
the  latter  has  insensibly  fallen  in  esteem.  In  many  districts 
of  the  country  the  children  of  the  poor  are  now  far  more 


6  POETRY  AND  BEAUTY. 

versed  in  hymns  than  in  ballads.  The  moral,  religious,  and 
political  effect  of  the  substitution  is  of  the  most  valuable 
kind.  Would  that  the  change  were  only  complete,  instead 
of  being  partial ! 

The  relish  for  poetry  which  was  first  developed  by  the 
twin  genius  of  Watts  and  Wesley,  never  abated.  In  after 
life,  his  special  favorites  were  Young  and  Cowper.  I  have 
before  me  his  own  copy  of  these  authors,  and  well  are  they 
pencilled  over.  Thomson,  too,  was  one  of  his  choice  com- 
panions. But  his  range  of  authors  was  considerable.  He 
delighted  to  store  his  mind  with  quotations ;  and  sometimes, 
on  a  ramble,  would  challenge  a  companion  to  name  any  sub- 
ject on  which  he  could  not  produce  a  verse ;  a  challenge  he 
almost  always  made  good.  To  love  poetry  and  to  love  na- 
tural beauty  are  much  the  same  thing.  His  love  for  spring 
is  constantly  appearing  in  his  letters;  and  some  of  them 
also  testify  how  he  enjoyed  a  tour  amid  the  lovelier  pathu 
of  our  own  island.  Busy  as  he  was,  he  dearly  loved  a  sum- 
mer ramble. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that  he  was  not  a  voluminous 
letter  writer.  He  had  no  leisure  so  to  be.  And  so  much 
did  he  desire  higher  qualifications  than  he  had  ever  attained, 
that  he  underrated  what  he  possessed,  so  as  to  make  writing 
a  considerable  effort.  To  a  very  near  friend  he  says,  "  the 
want  of  improvement,  arising  from  the  want  of  practice  in 
writing,  occasions  so  many  defects  in  my  every  effort  of  this 
kind,  that  it  is  with  reluctance  I  set  about  it."  From  such 
a  man  we  are  not  to  expect  the  letters  of  those  who  have 
elegant  or  learned  leisure ;  but  few  men  of  his  own  order 
would  be  found  writing  to  a  young  friend,  then  an  inmate 
of  his  family,  so  copiously  and  so  descriptively  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing example.  Though  we  do  not  find  the  hand  practised 
in  painting  nature,  we  have  the  eye  to  see  and  to  prize  her 
charms. 


SOUTH  WALES.  77 

"  Neath,  September  Uth,  1840. 

"  MY  DEAR  Miss  B ,  I  take  thia,  the  first  conve 

nient  opportunity,  to  thank  you  for  your  hasty  but  welcome 
note.  It  always  gives  us  pleasure  to  hear  from  those  we 
love,  especially  those  of  our  own  household.  We  wrote  to 
sister  Elizabeth  from  Pontypool,  in  which  we  endeavoured 
to  give  something  like  a  description  of  our  procedure.  We 
left  Pontypool  on  Thursday,  the  1  Oth  instant,  about  half-past 
six  o'clock — a  beautiful  morning, — and  had  one  of  the  most 
charming  drives  for  six  miles,  through  a  deep  and  beautiful 
valley,  between  high  hills  richly  wooded  with  various  shrubs 
and  trees  on  either  side,  and  a  continuation  of  lakes  at  the  foot. 
Sometimes  we  had  these  ponds  on  the  left  hand ;  and  then, 
crossing,  we  had  them  on  our  right.  The  sun  shining  most 
magnificently  through  on  the  whole,  produced  an  effect  not 
easily  described.  All  was  still  and  calm,  save  now  and  then 
a  foot  passenger  or  a  little  girl  from  a  neighbouring  cottage 
picking  blackberries,  and  the  sweet  warbling  of  the  birds,  which 
seemed  to  be  vying  with  each  other  which  should  raise  the  high- 
est notes  of  praise  to  their  Creator  in  this  beautiful  valley. 
We  drove  slowly,  admiring  and  adoring  the  wisdom,  skill, 
and  goodness  of  Him  who  gives  us  all  things  richly  to  enjoy, 
until  we  came  to  a  little  whitewashed  house,  called  '  New 
Bridge  Inn.'  By  this  time  we  were,  as  you  will  suppose, 
quite  ready  for  a  good  breakfast,  which  was  very  quickly 
provided, — nice  coffee  and  cream,  new-laid  eggs  and  choice 
rashers,  &c.  My  wife,  whom  I  think  I  had  never  seen  so 
charmed  with  the  beauties  of  nature  before,  left  the  feasting 
her  eyes  and  her  intellect  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  a 
more  earthly  appetite  ;  and  I  assure  you  we  both  did  justice 
to  the  breakfast.  I  suppose  my  wife  had  never  so  enjoyed  a 
morning  in  her  life.  She  thinks  the  scenery  quite  equal  to 
the  lakes  of  Westmoreland.  After  paying  our  bill,  we  pro- 


78  THE  TAFF. 

ceeded  about  twelve  miles  further,  to  Tredegar,  —  quite  a  dif« 
ferent  road,  but  not  without  interest.  We  stopped  there 
to  feed  our  horse,  and  called  at  the  bank,  &c.  ;  and  then 
proceeded  through  a  very  thickly  populated  place,  called 
Dowlais,  to  Merthyr,  —  as  much  the  reverse  of  the  morning's 
scenery  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  In  the  morning,  soon 
after  five,  we  arose  and  commenced  a  journey  of  twelve  miles 
to  another  New  Bridge,  in  Glamorgan.  On  this  side  we 
had  hills  on  both  sides,  beautifully  wooded,  but  more  open 
and  more  inhabited  than  the  other,  and  the  river  Taff  all 
the  way  on  our  right  hand.  This  ride  extended  for  twenty- 
four  miles  through  the  vale  of  Taff  to  Cardiff  ;  but  at  New 
Bridge  we  stopped  to  feed  our  horse,  nor  did  we  forget  our- 
selves. We  took  our  little  basket,  and  walked  about  ten 
minutes  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful  waterfalls  you  can  possi- 
bly imagine.  There  is  first  a  semicircle,  say  not  less  than 
sixty  yards,  and  then  a  straight  fall  of  perhaps  a  hundred. 
The  water  of  the  Taff  river  here  falls  a  distance  of  many 
yards,  and  produces  considerable  noise  and  foam.  When  we 
were  there,  the  sun  shone  most  beautifully,  and  my  wife  was 
again  charmed,  —  not  in  a  common  way,  but  well  nigh  trans- 
ported out  of  herself.  She  was,  however,  at  length  pre- 
vailed on  to  sit  on  a  clean  white  stone,  and  spread  the 
bounties  of  Providence  on  another  stone  or  rock,  just  oppo- 
site the  fall  and  under  a  large  oak  tree,  which  seemed  placed 
there  just  to  shelter  us  from  the  powerful  rays  of  the  sun, 
which  just  then  shone  with  great  strength. 


A  temper  naturally  tending  to  haste  but  never  retaining 
displeasure,  a  heart  singularly  open,  telling  out  to  friends 
almost  every  thought  with  a  freedom  that  scarcely  any  friend 
could  return  and  beyond  what  more  reserved  natures  could 
approve,  and  a  warm  genial  affection,  open  to  every  claim 


HOME   INFLUENCES.  79 

but  especially  ardent  in  all  family  attachments,  with  a 
lively  delight  in  giving  pleasure,  were  the  chief  moral 
qualities  that  lay  naturally  at  the  basis  of  his  character. 

Next  to  the  qualities  with  which  a  man  is  born,  the  in- 
fluences which  his  parents  and  his  family  exert  are  powerful  in 
shaping  his  after  course.  Mothers !  your  task  in  training 
your  sons  is  often  heavy,  but  your  encouragements  are  great. 
How  many  of  the  good  and  the  successful,  of  the  wise  and 
the  happy,  trace  all  that  was  bright  in  their  character  to 
influences  lying  as  far  back  as  their  mother's  knee  !  Samuel 
Budgett  was  born  a  merchant ;  but  whether  he  would  be 
happy  and  useful,  or  a  pest,  in  proportion  to  his  talents,  de- 
pended wholly  on  the  moral  qualities  with  which  his  com- 
mercial powers  were  combined.  Happily  for  him,  truth  and 
grace  were  valued  in  the  home  of  his  childhood.  If  his 
parents  had  not  been  remarkably  successful  in  gaining  this 
world's  good,  they  had  secured  the  pearl  that  was  of  far 
greater  price  to  both  them  and  their  children.  He  was 
early  taught  to  worship,  and  obey,  and  seek  the  God  from 
whose  hand  his  young  being  had  come.  What  Lamartine  so 
beautifully  says  of  his  own  mother,  might  be  said  equally  of 
his  : — "  We  could  not  remember  the  day  when  she  first  spoke 
to  us  about  God."  An  extract  has  already  been  given, 
showing  that  one  of  his  earliest  recollections  was  connected 
with  attendance  on  the  preaching  of  the  celebrated  Adam 
Clarke.  He  says  also, — "  we  were  in  the  habit  of  attending 
the  Wesleyan  Chapel,  and  the  preachers  were  frequently  en- 
tertained at  our  house."  The  following  little  incident  shows 
the  moral  tone  which  was  maintained  in  this  Christian 
home : — 

"  While  at  Nailsea,  the  following  circumstance  occurred. 
Passing  one  day  to  school  with  my  sisters,  a  neighbour's 
children  were  gathering  in  walnuts,  and  accosted  us.  present- 
ing us  with  a  hatful  On  our  return  home,  we  ran  in  with  childish 


80  HIS  MOTHEB'S  PKATEK. 

glee  to  exhibit  our  treasure ;  but  we  were  sternly  reprimand- 
ed bj  our  father,  who  said  it  was  dishonest,  and  that  he 
would  send  for  the  owner,  return  the  walnuts,  and  deliver  UB 
to  him  to  do  with  us  what  he  pleased.  This  made  my  poor 
little  heart  beat  violently ;  and  I  could  only  think  of  living 
the  rest  of  my  life  in  jail,  until  the  neighbour's  kindness  al- 
layed all  my  fearful  apprehensions." 

His  mother  especially  was  eminently  pious,  and  her  in- 
fluence on  the  character  of  her  son  was  powerful  and  happy. 
His  faithful  friend,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Wood,  who  intimately 
knew  his  inner  life,  thus  states  one  of  those  events  which 
pass  silently  within  the  bosom  of  Christian  families,  but 
which  reappear,  in  the  life  of  their  members,  in  blessed  and 
memorable  fruit : 

"He  was  about  nine  years  of  age,  when  one  day,  in 
passing  his  mother's  door,  he  heard  her  engaged  in  earnest 
prayer  for  her  family,  and  for  himself  by  name.  He  thought 
'  My  mother  is  more  earnest  that  I  should  be  saved  than  I 
am  for  my  own  salvation.'  In  that  hour  he  became  decided  to 
serve  God,  and  the  impression  then  made  was  never  effaced." 

Happy  that  son,  whose  heart  is  daily  moved  towards  the 
ways  of  God  by  a  mother's  holy  walk,  and  whose  salvation 
is  the  daily  burthen  of  a  mother's  fervent  prayer !  And 
happy  that  mother,  whose  sou  does  not  ste^l  his  heart  against  - 
her  solicitude !  "  It  was  early,"  many  a  mother  would  per- 
haps think,  "to  be  concerned  about  the  conversion  of  a 
good,  well-conducted  boy, — when  he  was  only  nine."  Per- 
haps, had  you  been  much  concerned  for  the  conversion  of 
your  boy  when  he  was  good  and  well-conducted,  he  might 
have  been  good  and  well-conducted  still.  "It  is  early," 
many  a  son  will  probably  think,  "to  be  anxious  about  a 
future  life,  when  I  am  yet  so  young."  Perhaps,  if  you 
defer  now  because  it  is  too  early,  you  will  in  a  few  yean 
abandon  the  thought  altogether  because  it  is  too  late. 


BETTY   COLES.  81 

His  religious  feelings  thus  began  at  the  door  of  his  moth 
er's  chamber.  They  were  soon  strengthened  by  her  recitals 
of  the  scenes  that  passed  in  the  chamber  of  a  dying  neigh- 
bour. After  they  had  removed  to  Coleford,  he  says : — 

"  The  first  thing  I  remember  here  was  the  death  of  a 
poor  woman,  named  Betty  Coles,  who  died  very  happy,  in  a 
small  house  just  by  the  chapel.  During  her  illness,  my  moth- 
er frequently  visited  her ;  and  such  was  the  effect  of  my 
mother's  description,  from  time  to  time,  of  her  happy  experi- 
ence and  death,  that  I  felt  an  ardent  desire  to  lie  down  and 
die  by  her  side.  And  I  shall  never  forget  the  solemn  de- 
light I  felt,  on  the  calm  summer  evenings,  walking  in  a 
field  near  the  house,  called  Ashol,  repeating  the  hymn, 
{Ah,  lovely  appearance  of  death  !'  until  my  mind  became 
so  enraptured,  that  death,  of  all  things,  appeared  the  most 
desirable." 

Doubtless,  this  good  mother  acquired  far  more  moral 
power  over  the  heart  of  her  son,  by  the  interest  he  saw  her 
take  in  the  dying  woman,  than  she  could  have  done  by  the 
most  systematic  teaching,  alone.  And  doubtless,  too,  she 
drew  his  young  heart  towards  the  future  with  far  greater 
effect,  by  telling  him  all  that  was  passing  in  the  happy  soul 
of  Betty  Coles,  than  she  could  have  done  by  any  amount  of 
dissertation  on  death  and  eternity.  Living  things  teach  the 
best  lessons.  It  is  singular,  that  when  men  are  descending 
the  graveward  slope  of  life's  hill,  they  are  not  near  so  alive 
to  the  closing  scene  as  when  they  were  on  the  sunny  side, 
amid  the  morning  beams  and  the  morning  flowers,  pressing 
up  to  enjoy  the  summit.  Death  generally  recedes  from  the 
thoughts  as  it  comes  nearer  to  the  frame.  Take  care  that 
you  do  not  count  upon  being  more  alive  to  your  latter  end 
as  it  approaches.  Young  hearts  are  the  most  difficult  to  im- 
press with  earthly  forecast,  but  the  easiest  to  impress  with 
care  for  eternity.  By  the  statement  just  quoted,  we  sea 
4* 


82  DEATH   AND  LITE. 

that  young  as  Samuel  was,  his  heart  already  warmed  towardi 
the  joys  that  lie  beyond  the  forbidding  bourne  of  death. 
The  faith  with  which  his  mother  spoke  of  the  better  country, 
the  peace  wherewith  Betty  Coles  approached  its  unseen  shore, 
the  rapt  music  in  which  Charles  Wesley  dwells  on  the  Chris- 
tian's release,  all  combined,  as  instruments  in  the  holy  Hand 
that  was,  even  now,  linking  his  life  with  immortality,  to  di- 
vest the  grave  of  its  fear  by  unfolding  the  bliss  to  which  it 
admits  the  believer.  It  was  hardly  to  be  thought,  that  the 
little  merchant,  whom  we  saw  in  the  last  chapter  buying,  and 
selling,  and  getting  gain  with  such  precocious  shrewdness, 
would  be  found,  "  on  the  calm  summer  evening,  walking  in 
the  fields  with  solemn  delight,"  and  repeating  these  enchant- 
ing lines : — 

"  How  bleat  ifl  our  brother,  bereft 

Of  all  that  could  burden  his  mind ! 
How  easy  the  soul  that  has  left 

This  wearisome  body  behind ! 
Of  «-vil  incapable,  thou, 

Whose  relics  with  envy  I  see, 
No  longer  in  misery  now, 

No  longer  a  sinner  like  me. 

44  The  lids  he  BO  seldom  could  close, 

By  sorrow  forbidden  to  sleep, 
Seal'd  up  in  their  mortal  repose, 

Have  strangely  forgotten  to  weep : 
The  fountains  can  yield  no  supplies, 

These  hollows  from  water  are  free ; 
The  tears  are  all  wiped  from  these  eyes, 

And  evil  they  never  shall  see." 

This  feeling,  in  which  poetry  and  religion  mingle,  seems 
to  have  been  familiar  to  him  in  those  early  days ;  for  he 
speaks  of  being  much  affected  by  "  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  when 
his  sisters  would  walk  up  and  down,  and  repeat  versed 


A   DABK  NIGHT.  83 

taught  them  by  their  mother."  Around  the  memory  of 
that  mother  all  his  early  recollections  of  a  sacred  kind  ap- 
pear to  centre.  It  is  always  a  dreary  day  at  home,  when 
a  mother's  chamber  is  darkened,  when  the  children  may 
not  enter,  and  those  that  go  in  and  out  tread  lightly,  and 
speak  in  under-tone.  After  such  an  anxious  day,  this  boy, 
whose  mother  was  so  worthy  to  be  loved,  went  to  rest  full  of 
the  dread  that  she  was  near  her  end.  It  was  a  dark  win- 
ter's night ;  and  most  of  us  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  such 
a  child. 

"  On  the  following  morning,"  he  says,  "  between  three 
and  four  o'clock,  my  mother  was  so  much  worse  that  she 
was  supposed  to  be  almost,  if  not  quite,  dying.  The  phy- 
sician had  been  previously  sent  for,  and  he  pronounced  her 
to  be  in  so  precarious  a  state,  that  her  friends  thought  that 
would  be  the  last  morning  of  her  life.  My  father,  in  great 
distress,  sent  hastily  for  me,  while  he  saddled  old  Bob,  and 
catching  up  one  of  his  own  gaiters,  and  putting  one  on  each 
of  my  legs,  sent  me  off  in  the  dark  (for  it  was  winter)  to 
Mells,  a  distance  of  three  miles — a  most  solitary  ride — for  Mr. 
Aliens,  the  surgeon,  to  come  immediately.  On  my  way 
back,  I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  made  on  my  mind, 
(when  a  little  bird  commenced  singing  a  cheerful  note,  as  I 
rode  by  Mells  Park),  that,  in  answer  to  my  prayers,  God 
would  restore  my  mother.  My  heart  was  filled  with  grati- 
tude, and  from  that  time  I  never  doubted  her  recovery; 
and  I  went  home  exclaiming, '  Sister  Betsey,  mother  will  get 
well !'  '  What  makes  you  think  so  V  l  Oh  !  I  know  it,  be- 
cause God  has  heard  our  prayers,  and  will  answer  them ;  and 
I  have  not  had  a  doubt  of  it  since  I  came  by  Mells  Park 
this  morning.1 " 

He  had  gone  to  sleep  full  of  the  thought  that  his  good 
mother  was  in  danger.  In  the  dark  of  the  winter  morning 
he  is  awoke :  even  then  he  must  hasten  away  for  the  last 


84  A   MEMORABLE   MORNING. 

available  aid.  How  that  little  heart  must  have  swelled  and 
beat,  as  he  set  forth  on  his  dark  and  solitary  ride !  And 
now  the  errand  is  done.  He  is  on  his  way  home.  What 
news  awaits  him  there?  All  his  thoughts  rise  up  to  Him 
who  alone  can  help  in  such  dark  and  cloudy  days.  His 
mother's  God  is  above  him ;  his  mother's  God  is  tender ;  He 
hears  prayer  ;  and  He  can  infallibly  restore.  He  is  passing 
by  the  Park  at  Mells,  and  praying  as  he  goes.  The  silence, 
that  has  aided  his  sorrow  and  his  abstraction,  is  broken.  A 
little  bird  lifts  up  its  voice,  and  sings.  Sweet  and  welcome 
note !  That  music  in  the  creation  seems  to  testify  of  mercy 
in  the  Creator.  His  struggling  prayer  gains  confidence. 
He  trusts  in  the  tender  mercy  of  the  Lord.  Joy  fills  his 
young  heart ; — ay,  joy,  on  that  cold,  weary,  winter  morning, 
with  his  mother  at  the  point  of  death.  It  is  no  natural 
flush,  no  passing  glow,  but  a  strange  and  sacred  joy  that 
carries  a  message  in  it.  The  Comforter  has  come.  God 
has  heard  his  prayer :  he  is  sure  it  is  so.  He  is  happy  as 
to  his  mother's  lot,  and  happy  as  to  his  own  soul.  He  re- 
turns proclaiming  his  confidence.  The  issue  establishes  his 
faith. 

That  was  a  memorable  morning  to  him.  Throughout 
life,  he  always  thought  that  then,  for  the  first  time,  he  tasted 
the  joy  of  acceptance  with  God.  After  his  mother's  recov- 
ery, one  day,  in  walking  with  her,  he  told  her  of  his  morning 
prayer  by  Mells  Park,  of  the  persuasion  that  she  would  re- 
cover, and  the  sense  of  peace  with  God,  which  then  were 
given  to  him.  She  returned  home  full  of  a  mother's  hope, 
and  said  to  some  of  the  family,  "  My  dear  Samuel  will,  if 
spared,  be  made  a  great  blessing.  In  conversing  with  him,  I 
have  been  profited  and  humbled.  Although  young  in  years, 
he  is  a  companion  for  age  as  well  as  youth." 

"  Slender  ground,"  many  mothers  would  say,  "  to  found 
hopes  of  future  character  upon, — anything  that  passes  in  the 


GLOOM   IN   BOYHOOD.  85 

mind  of  a  child  of  nine  or  ten !"  So  you  think,  in  the  mind 
of  whose  children  no  such  things  are  likely  to  pass.  You 
whose  little  ones  never  overheard  you  pleading  in  your  cham- 
ber that  the  God  of  love  would  lead  their  hearts  to  Him  ; 
never  saw  you  frequenting  the  deathbed  of  poor  neighbours ; 
never  stood  by  your  knee  to  hear  how  one  whose  person  they 
knew  was  going  down  to  the  grave,  and  rejoicing  to  go.  Why, 
it  is  natural  that  you  should  think  lightly  of  fruits  which  you 
take  no  pains  to  cultivate.  But,  however  you  may  judge 
of  religious  feeling  in  the  mind  of  so  young  a  child,  Samuel 
Budgett,  when  quite  as  experienced  in  the  world  as  you^ 
as  shrewd,  as  clear-sighted,  and  as  practical — looked  back  on 
his  morning  ride  by  the  park  at  Mells,  as  a  luminous  point{ 
which  shed  forward  a  stream  of  brightness  on  all  his  onward 
way. 

"  But  how  gloomy  for  a  boy  thus  to  have  his  thoughts 
filled  with  things  eternal  and  infinite  !"  Gloomy,  you  say ; 
ah !  then,  your  own  boyhood  knew  no  such  experience,  or  you 
would  have  cried,  "  It  is  not  gloomy,  but  surpassingly  glori- 
ous." Suppose  that  Mr.  Paxton  had  a  son  at  school,  would 
it  be  gloomy  for  him  to  be  taken  from  his  tops  and  marbles, 
and  introduced  to  the  radiant  microcosm  where  his  father's 
genius  gathers  under  its  shining  wings  the  assembled  off- 
spring of  all  the  nations?  As  that  scene  opened  on  his 
eyes,  would  not  tops  and  marbles  be  all  forgotten,  and  the 
joys  of  his  young  heart  gush  again,  to  think,  "  And  this  wa a 
built  by  my  father?"  And  they  who  think  piety  in  youth 
is  like  sackcloth  covering  health  and  bloom,  little  know  how 
gloriously  the  soul  of  a  boy  expands  and  soars,  when  he  feels 
himself  free  of  two  worlds, — possessor  of  the  present,  heir  of 
the  eternal.  When  the  eye  of  faith,  newly  opened  within 
him,  gazes  on  that  better  country,  with  its  objects  showing 
indistinctly  amid  depths  of  light,  he  feels  himself  launched 
upon  a  new  life,  as  fax  exceeding  his  former  life  in  joy  and 


86  YOUNG  PURPOSES. 

grandeur,  as,  to  a  warm-hearted  son  of  the  architect,  the 
crystal  palace  would  exceed  his  playground  at  school 
Youth  is  the  time  for  joy ;  but  the  joy  of  youth  is  only  a 
pent-up,  though  pregnant,  bud,  till  it  has  felt  the  beams  of 
wonder  and  gladness  which  flow  from  the  world-saving  work 
of  Christ,  and  from  the  Father's  adopting  love.  Then,  only 
then,  it  bursts  into  full  and  glowing  flower.  Ye  that  have 
let  youth  pass,  and  do  not  yet  know  the  Saviour,  you  have 
slept  too  long.  The  sunrise  is  past ;  jou  will  never  see  that 
glorious  sight  now.  But  the  day  is  not  over  yet.  The  sun 
is  not  set.  You  cannot  recall  the  morn,  nor  look  upon  the 
early  light,  amid  morning  flowers,  and  dew,  and  music  of 
birds ;  but  the  sun  is  still  in  the  heaven ;  up,  and  behold 
him,  before  he  goes  down.  "  The  night  cometh." 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  with  such  a  parentage  as  his, 
with  such  religious  emotions,  and  with  a  heart  naturally  warm, 
Samuel  would  have  family  affections  uncommonly  ardent.  In 
him,  these  affections  acted  on  a  practical  and  energetic  na- 
ture. He  was  the  eldest  son  of  his  mother.  His  father, 
much  older  than  she,  was  well  stricken  in  years.  His  bro- 
thers and  sisters  were  numerous,  and  would  require  some  one 
to  open  their  way  in  life.  He  often  saw  his  excellent  parents 
struggling  with  severe  care  and  difficulty.  When  Warren 
Hastings  was  seven  years  of  age,  as  he  lay,  one  bright  day 
in  June,  on  the  banks  of  the  rivulet  that  ran  through  the 
domains  which  his  ancestors  had  owned,  he  lesolved  on  re- 
covering that  lost  inheritance ;  and  he,  poor  and  unlikely 
boy,  "  he  would  be  Hastings  of  Daylesford."*  When  the  first 
Sir  Robert  Peel  was  but  a  little  boy,  he  confidently  told  that 
he  would  yet  be  rich,  and  great,  and  powerful ;  for  in  a  coun 
try  like  ours  diligence  and  talent  might  reach  any  position.  ] 
Both  these  boys  were  poor ;  but  both  had  talent  and  perse 

*  MacaoUy.  f  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1830. 


EAELY   EFFORTS.  87 

yerance,  and  both  reaped  in  the  fall  of  life  the  harvest  they 
had  hoped  for  in  its  spring.  Samuel  Budgett,  in  circum- 
stances about  as  humble  and  at  an  age  equally  tender,  formed 
his  own  more  modest  scheme.  He  had  no  ancestral  domain 
to  win  back.  He  thought  not  of  personal  power  or  station. 
But  he  had  beloved  parents,  of  whom  he  would  fain  be  the 
stay ;  and  brothers  and  sisters,  of  whom  he  would  fain  be  the 
pioneer.  His  resolution  was  taken :  he  would  provide  for  his 
family.  He  was  not  a  boy  to  dream :  he  must  work.  He 
was  not  to  make  his  fortune,  as  so  many  boys  are,  by  some 
rich  chance  in  the  fair,  fertile  future ;  but  he  must  make 
half-pence,  pence,  and  perchance  a  shilling,  even  now,  in  the 
dull  and  sterile  present.  Accordingly,  he  betook  him  to  such 
little  merchandise  as  the  neighbourhood  offered  and  as  his 
funds  could  command ;  fowls,  eggs,  and  whatever  else  could  be 
turned  to  profit.  Doubtless,  in  all  this  traffic  he  was  indulg- 
ing a  natural  passion ;  but  the  pursuit  was  ennobled  to  his 
own  mind  because  it  was  to  be  the  pathway  of  his  family  to 
comfort.  Full  of  this  hope,  he  bought  and  sold,  and  attend- 
ed the  neighbouring  markets  of  Shepton,  Mallet  and  Bath ; 
at  every  successful  bargain  gaining  fresh  confidence  that  he 
would  yet  achieve  the  desire  of  his  heart.  How  far  that 
desire  may  have  sprung  from  pure  affection,  how  far  it  may 
have  been  animated  by  family  ambition,  we  can  hardly  trace. 
Both  principles  had  probably  a  share  in  its  origin  and  its 
intensity.  That  he  had  strongly  the  natural  desire  to  rise, 
is  unquestionable.  That  he  had  strongly,  also,  the  sacred 
resolve  to  employ  his  gains",  not  in  hoarding  up  wealth  for  him- 
self, but  in  promoting  the  happiness,  first  of  his  family,  then 
of  his  neighbours,  is  equally  unquestionable.  Without  his 
family  incitements,  he  had  enough  of  natural  ambition  to 
urge  him  upwards.  But  with  this  natural  ambition,  the  grace 
of  God  led  him  to  decide,  that  instead  of  slipping  the  chain 
which  bound  him  to  the  family  burthen  in  order  to  rise  unen- 


88  AMBITION   AND   AFFECTION. 

cumbered,  he  would  bind  thai  burthen  on  his  own  shoulders, 
and,  seeking  God's  help,  press  on.  On,  then,  he  pressed ;  and 
in  proportion  to  his  burthen,  so  was  his  blessing.  I  do  hope 
that  some  honest  lad,  who  has  set  his  own  hand  to  the  holy 
work  of  lessening  the  cares  of  parental  age  and  smoothing 
the  path  of  fraternal  youth,  will  light  upon  these  pages,  and 
will  take  courage  from  the  remembrance  of  how  Samuel 
Budgett  began,  and  how  he  went  on  and  •prospered. 

Cue  of  his  remarkable  faculties  was  the  clear  discern- 
ment of  the  relation  which  the  little  bears  to  the  great  ;— 
moments  to  years,  drachms  to  tons,  pence  to  thousands.  We 
have  seen  how  he  multiplied  five  minutes,  till  a  loss  of  years 
seemed  to  spring  up  as  its  inevitable  fruit.  So,  in  the  waste 
or  the  overweight  of  a  drachm,  he  would  clearly  point  out  to 
a  man  consequences  so  alarming  that  his  hair  would  almost 
stand  up ;  and  in  the  neglect  of  odd  pence  upon  an  account, 
he  would  show  you  the  spring  of  incalculable  losses.  In  any 
sphere  of  life — in  studies,  in  the  delicacies  of  family  rela- 
tion, in  guiding  churches,  in  ruling  a  country,  quite  as  nauch 
as  in  raising  a  business, — it  is  of  the  first  importance  that 
you  clearly  see  the  connexion  between  the  little  and  the 
great.*  Our  young  merchant  possessed  that  power  almost  in 
exaggeration,  and  therefore  clearly  traced  a  connexion  be- 
tween every  little  gain  and  his  great  ultimate  design. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  his  discerning  the  great  in 
the  little  occurred  not  many  years  before  his  death.  Walk- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  of  Clevedon,  with  his  confidential 
servant  Martha,  he  found  a  potatoe  lying  on  the  road.  This 
he  picked  up,  and  giving  it  to  Martha,  told  her  to  plant  it 
and  keep  the  produce,  to  plant  that  again  next  year,  and  so 
to  go  on  year  by  year, — he  promising  to  find  her  ground  for 
her  crop  however  extensive  it  might  be,  and  assuring  her  that 
she  might  make  a  little  fortune  in  the  course  of  time.  To 
this  potatoe  he  added  another,  found  also ;  and  the  first  year 


DAME  SCHOOLS.  89 

the  produce  was  sixteen,  the  second  sixty-three,  the  third  a 
sackful.  And  what  may  ultimately  spring  from  that  potatoe, 
I  must  leave  to  some  other  historian. 

We  now  naturally  ask,  What  part  had  the  school  in  form- 
ing his  habits  and  character  ?  And  it  is  really  well  that  we 
happen  to  have  some  light  on  this  point  in  his  own  words. 
In  a  few  years  more  we  shall  hardly  be  willing  to  believe 
that  the  state  of  education  in  rural  districts  was,  so  recently, 
what  the  following  passages  will  show  it  to  have  been.  Dur- 
ing the  time  that  the  family  resided  at  Kingswood,  he  says : — • 

"  At  this  time  we  went  to  school  to  a  Mrs.  Stone,  at  the 
Yew  Tree,  whose  usual  mode  of  punishment  was  to.  put  us 
in  the  corner  with  her  husband's  long  speckled  worsted  stock- 
ing drawn  over  our  heads,  either  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 
and  with  the  foot  hanging  over  our  faces.  This  degradation 
I  had  twice  to  submit  to ;  once  for  picking  up  an  apple  from 
under  the  tree,  and  the  other  time  for  washing  my  shoe  in 
her  pan  of  clean  water." 

This  affords  no  light  on  the  teaching  practised  by  good 
Dame  Stone  ;  all  we  see  is  her  method  of  discipline,  and  the 
glimpse  is  sufficiently  picturesque  for  the  pencil  of  Webster. 
But  upon  the  actual  instructions  given  by  a  successor  of  that 
worthy  personage,  the  record  is  more  explicit. 

"  I  was  then  placed  at  school  with  an  old  woman  who 
spun  worsted,  and  the  only  good  I  ever  remember  receiv- 
ing, was  a  tremendous  belief  in,  and  dread  of,  ghosts  and 
hobgoblins.  In  order  to  keep  the  children  quiet,  she 
would  tell  us  the  most  terrific  stories  of  apparitions,  as 
she  walked  to  and  fro  by  her  spinning  wheel ;  such  as  the 
following  : — '  A  man  once  chopping  wood  at  a  place  called 
Goodheavers,  by  accident,  chopped  his  bowels  out.  The 
hatchet  became  so  fixed  in  the  block  that  it  could  never 
afterwards  be  removed  ;  and  this  man's  ghost  ever  after- 
wards haunted  the  place,  and  frequently  when  many  per- 


90  NEW  SCHOOLS. 

sons  were  present  would  make  his  appearance,  put  his  fin- 
ger into  the  fire,  and  light  his  pipe  with  it.  After  annoy- 
ing  the  people  for  some  time,  he  would  descend  into  the 
coalpit.  He  was  twice  laid,  but  still  made  his  appearance 
and  terrified  those  who  attended  the  pit ;  when  a  number 
of  good  men  met  together,  and  laid  him  in  the  Red  Sea, 
and  she  was  not  aware  whether  he  had  since  made  his  appear- 
ance or  not.'  This  is  just  to  show  the  kind  of  tuition  in 
that  temple  of  literature." 

"  Temple  of  literature,"  indeed  !  And  the  priestess, 
too !  It  is  positively  a  marvel  that  this  giant  English 
people  have  ever  grown  to  the  proportions  wherein  they 
stand  before  the  world  to-day,  considering  the  mental  ali- 
ment on  which  the  bulk  of  them  were  reared.  Poor  chil- 
dren! handed  over  —  by  way  of  education,  forsooth  —  to 
witness  an  old  woman  spinning  two  yarns,  one  of  worsted, 
the  other  of  hobgoblins.  And  the  quality  of  her  ghosts, 
too  !  They  had  not  even  the  small  profit  of  being  poeti- 
cal, to  weigh  against  all  the  needless  fears  and  pains  they 
originated  in  the  heart  of  a  poor  child.  What  an  astonish- 
ment it  would  be  for  Mrs.  Stone  and  her  yarn-loving 
coadjutor,  could  they  see  the  noble  room  that  stands  be- 
hind Kingswood  chapel,  fifty-one  feet  long,  by  thirty-four 
wide,  and  twenty-one  high,  with  tidy  forms,  rising  gallery, 
and  garniture  of  plates  and  maps ;  and  were  then  told  that 
this  was  a  school  for  poor  children  built  by  their  own  old 
pupil,  who  had  washed  his  shoes  in  the  pan  of  water,  had 
worn  on  his  naughty  head  Mister  Stone's  speckled  stocking, 
and  trembled  to  think  of  the  fire-proof  ghost  who  lit  his  pipe 
with  his  fingers!  Certes,  the  spinning-wheel  would  stand 
still  for  very  wonder.  And  how  would  the  wonder  grow, 
when  the  worthy  woman  heard  the  manner  of  knowledge 
there  imparted ;  urchins  just  such  as  used  to  be  in  their  own 
days — no  older,  no  bigger,  no  less  given  to  play,  no  more  ad- 


STOW'S   SYSTEM.  91 

dieted  to  mischief,  little  urchins  of  five,  six,  seven,  and  other 
ages  appropriate  to  hornbook  or  to  pothooks,  holding  talk 
about  parts  of  speech,  mental  arithmetic,  and  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  planets,  and  Plantagenets ;  telling,  before  you 
could  turn  round,  what  would  be  the  cost  of  thirty-nine 
pounds  of  butter  at  elevenpence  three  farthings  per  pound  ; 
and  placing  before  you  a  map  of  England  which  their  own 
fingers  had  drawn.  The  venerable  priestesses  in  the  ancient 
"  temple  of  literature,"  would  greatly  wonder  at  all  this ; 
and  also  to  see  that  instead  of  the  salutary  amusement  of  a 
ghost-story,  the  teacher  should  set  the  children  to  clap  hands, 
and  march,  and  sing,  and  now  and  then  turn  them  out  on  a 
pleasant  playground  on  purpose  to  have  sport. 

Have  you  ever  spent  a  morning  in  a  school  conducted 
on  Stow's  training  system  ?  If  not,  go  soon.  It  will  be  to 
you  a  pleasure  and  a  gain.  You  will  wonder  at  the  amount 
of  knowledge  that  can  be  given  to  children.  You  will  be 
thankful  to  see  the  young  so  grounded  in  the  habit  of  weigh- 
ing and  searching  the  letter  of  God's  lively  oracles.  You 
will  find  your  heart  lightened  to  see  how  much  of  real  en- 
joyment can  be  thrown  into  the  exercises  of  a  school.  And, 
contrasting  that  scene  with  those  of  which  Mr.  Budgett  has 
left  us  the  record,  you  will  be  glad  and  grateful  for  the  pro- 
gress which  has  been  made  since  the  days  of  his  childhood. 
Would  that  so  much  ignorance  did  not  still  remain  to  re- 
proach the  supineness  of  the  churches  ! 

Besides  the  two  schools  above  alluded  to,  we  find  him 
naming  another,  at  Kilmersdon,  on  the  way  from  which  he 
found  the  memorable  horse-shoe.  He  also  went  for  two  years 
to  a  school  at  Midsomer  Norton,  where  he  and  a  younger 
brother  were  weekly  boarders.  This  was  doubtless  of  a 
higher  order  than  either  of  the  other  three. 

Life  often  turns  on  the  result  of  some  boyish  struggle. 
Samuel's  early  piety  had  lighted  up  two  kindred  ambitions. 


92  REVERIE. 

He  would  fain  place  his  family  in  competence ;  he  would 
fain  bring  the  dark  heathen  to  Christ.  For  the  one  he  must 
trade  ;  for  the  other,  he  must  go  far  hence  as  a  missionary 
forsaking  trade  and  kindred.  How  rapidly  does  a  future 
race  of  gain,  of  glory,  or  of  usefulness  lie  pictured  before  a 
boy  of  active  mind,  in  colours  that  enchant  for  the  time. 
Each  course  to  which  Samuel's  heart  pushed  him  had  its 
own  charm.  Each  charm  Was  hallowed  by  a  distinct  sacred- 
ness.  Filial  love  consecrated  the  one  ;  love  to  souls,  the 
other.  It  was  a  struggle  which  the  heart  of  many  a  young 
Christian  knows.  How  deeply  it  engaged  the  heart  of 
Samuel,  let  his  own  recital  tell. 

"  About  this  time,  I  was  in  a  great  strait  between  two 
courses  of  life  ;  as  to  whether  I  had  better  direct  my  at- 
tention to  obtaining  a  qualification  for  going  out  as  a  mis- 
sionary, or  to  preparing  for  business.  On  the  one  liana 
I  had  a  great  desire  to  be  useful  in  a  spiritual  point  of 
view  ;  on  the  other,  I  felt  sensibly  the  strong  claims  which 
my  family  had  on  my  efforts  in  a  pecuniary  way.  One  day,  as 
I  was  riding  along  on  my  father's  horse,  so  deeply  was  I  en- 
gaged in  the  absorbing  question  that  I  fell  into  a  reverie. 
I  remember  imagining,  first,  what  advantages  would  be 
likely  to  accrue  to  the  family  by  my  diligently  pursuing 
business ;  and'  again,  I  imagined  myself  transported  to  some 
clime  as  a  missionary,  engaged  in  preaching  the  gospel  to 
the  heathen,  and  almost  fancied  myself  kneeling  under  the 
bushes  and  among  the  rocks,  drawing  down  by  faith  and 
prayer  blessings  on  my  family ;  and  so  deeply  was  my  mind 
absorbed  at  that  instant  that  I  entirely  lost  sight  of  where  I 
was  going,  nor  do  I  know  how  long  I  continued  in  that 
state.  All  I  remember  is,  that  when  I  awoke  from  the 
reverie  I  found  the  bridle  loose  from  my  hand  on  the  horse's 
neck,  and  he  standing  under  a  large  tree  in  a  lane,  eating 
grass ;  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  had  been  for  a  consider- 


HIS   DECISION.  93 

able  time  surrounded  by  a  large  concourse  of  people,  whom  I 
had  been  entreating  with  feelings  of  the  deepest  interest  to  flee 
from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to  accept  of  present  salvation 
through  faith  in  Christ.  One  thing  is  certain, — I  had  been 
weeping  a  great  deal,  as  the  point  of  the  saddle  and  the 
horse's  shoulders  were  wet  with  my  tears ;  and  I  rode  home 
with  feelings  of  conscious  dignity  and  peace,  such  as  I  cannot 
describe ;  and  I  almost  thought  of  giving  up  all  idea  of 
business,  and  devoting  myself  to  a  preparation  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  But  from  a  fancied  consciousness  of  my 
want  of  capacity,  and  my  want  of  education  or  the  means  of 
obtaining  it,  I  felt  a  fear  of  mentioning  my  impressions  to 
any  person  who  might  have  assisted  me.  I  thought  I  must 
plod  on  as  I  could,  and  get  my  bread  and  help  my  family." 

This  simple  narrative  shows  how  deeply  the  love  of  souls 
had  then  penetrated  his  young  heart.  It  brought  him  to  a 
point  at  which  nothing  was  wanting  but  a  fair  opportunity 
to  make  him  sacrifice  at  once  his  natural  pursuit  of  trade 
and  his  cherished  design  of  family  advancement.  Even  in 
the  distant  scene  to  which  his  young  fancy  bore  him,  his 
heart  still  clung  to  its  home  project.  Even  there,  he  pic- 
tures himself  "  kneeling  down  under  the  rocks  and  among 
the  bushes,  drawing  down  by  faith  and  prayer  blessings  upon 
my  family."  Yes,  and  had  he  gone  thither  with  such  a 
heart,  that  "  faith  and  prayer"  exercised  on  behalf  of  his 
family  would  not  have  failed  to  "  draw  down"  from  the  end- 
less store  above  all  blessings  which  they  needed.  Many  a 
missionary  has  committed  his  kindred  to  the  care  of  God, 
and  afterwards  proved  that  the  promise  to  those  who  forsake 
father  and  mother,  and  houses  and  lands,  for  Christ's  sake 
and  the  gospel's,  is  a  good  dowry  for  those  who  can  trust  it. 
But  to  Samuel  the  door  did  not  seem  open.  Had  it  been, 
probably  the  sacrifice  would  have  been  made  ;  it  was  in  his 
heart,  and  doubtless  it  was  accepted. 


94  LEAVES  HOME. 

His  character,  then,  was  based  on  an  intellect  of  uncom- 
mon penetration,  foresight,  and  power  of  syetematising ;  on  a 
temperament  singularly  active  and  persevering ;  on  affec- 
tions warm  to  domestic  claims,  eager  to  communicate  hap- 
piness, and  susceptible  of  intense  emotion  ;  on  a  natural 
love  of  trade,  amounting  to  a  passion ;  on  a  home  where 
worth  nurtured  his  affections,  instruction  guided  him  toward 
integrity  and  religion,  and  exigency  called  forth  his  efforts : 
on  a  childhood  of  which  the  great  events  were  scenes  of  do- 
mestic anxiety  that  highly  excited  his  feelings,  or  personal 
dangers  that  shook  his  system ;  on  a  school-training  imper- 
fect and  unfavourable  ;  on  religious  impressions  early,  deep, 
vivid,  and  influential;  finally,  on  a  conflict  between  two 
sacred  desires — the  one,  to  live  for  his  family,  the  other,  to 
live  for  souls, — a  conflict  in  which  not  so  much  his  will  as 
his  self-distrust  cast  the  die  and  sent  him  forth  to  take  the 
lot  of  an  apprentice. 

How  did  he  fare  on  this  stage  of  his  journey  ? 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES. 

'"There's  not  a  man,  from  England's  king 

To  the  peasant  that  delves  the  soil, 
Can  share  half  the  pleasure  the  seasons  bring, 
If  he  have  not  his  share  of  the  toil." 

BEBXARD  BAETOX. 

IT  was  on  a  day  in  spring  (in  April,  1809),  that  Samuel 
Budgett  set  forth  on  that  seven  years'  journey  which  people 
call  apprenticeship.  He  had  already  served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  his  own  way  :  for  five  years  he  had  been  saving,  buy- 
ing, selling,  observing,  and  laying  up  stores  of  commercial 
wisdom.  He  had  shown  himself  a  tradesman  of  rare  tact ; 
and  had  he  just  gone  on  plying  his  own  means  and  pushing 
his  own  opportunities,  doubtless  he  would  have  shot  up  into 
some  irregular  eminence  among  the  notabilities  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood. It  is  hard  to  conjecture  what  sort  of  a  busi- 
ness his  would  have  been  had  he  never  been  apprenticed ; 
but  certainly  something  unique,  both  in  its  grouping  of 
wares  and  in  its  plan  of  management.  However,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  tell  what  he  would  have  been  if  he  had  not  been 
what  he  was.  So  many  have  written  the  history  of  things 
which  would  have  been  had  not  other  things  come  instead  of 
them, — for  instance,  what  would  have  been  the  history  of 
Europe  had  Napoleon  died  in  Egypt  or  been  victor  at 


96  THE   UNIVERSITY   OF  TRADE. 

Waterloo, — that  it  will  suffice  for  me  to  write  of  the  plain 
things  that  have  been.  True,  one  shows  no  depth  or  fore- 
sight in  telling  only  what  has  come  to  pass ;  but  that  is  a 
humiliation  to  which  we  may  as  well  make  up  our  mind. 
With  his  aptitude  for  trade,  with  the  proof  already  attained 
that  by  following  his  own  way  he  could  prosper,  and  with 
his  settled  desire  to  acquire  a  competency  (not  for  his  own 
sake),  the  temptation  to  many  a  lad  would  have  been  strong 
to  turn  away  from  the  tedious  close-hedged  road  of  appren- 
ticeship, and  to  look  for  a  shorter  and  freer  way  to  wealth. 
But  his  haste  was  the  haste  of  energy,  not  of  impatience. 
He  had  gone  to  work  just  because  he  could  not  be  idle  ;  and 
he  was  perfectly  content  to  forego  his  own  little  dealings  in 
order  to  learn  the  regular  habits  of  trade,  which  would  prove 
a  firmer  base  whereon  to  erect  his  future  success.  He 
started,  then,  rich  in  his  parents'  blessing,  and  entered  on 
his  new  career  under  the  roof  of  his  brother,  a  good  man 
and  a  thriving  tradesman. 

Trade  is  a  university  wherein  every  shop  is  a  college, 
and  every  apprentice  a  graduate.  And  a  very  momentous 
matriculation  it  is,  when  a  boy  signs  the  deed  which  "binds  " 
him  for  seven  years.  Three  score  years  and  ten  seem  a  long 
term  to  the  eye  of  childhood,  though  they  seem  but  a  frag- 
ment to  the  eye  of  age.  Yet  of  that  long  term  two  tenths 
are  already  gone  before  the  boy  is  fit  to  be  bound,  and  then 
a  third  must  pass  away  before  he  emerges  into  manhood ; — 
three  tenths  of  life's  allotted  time  clean  gone,  before  the  art 
of  gaining  a  livelihood  has  been  mastered !  Men  do  few 
more  serious  things  in  all  the  course  of  life  than  those  boys 
do  at  life's  threshold.  That  signing  the  indenture  is  the  be- 
ginning of  life's  earnest  work.  Up  to  that  day,  it  was  to  be 
seen  in  what  ship  the  future  man  would  sail,  and  what 
course  he  would  steer ;  now  his  ship  is  chosen,  his  course 
decided ;  he  is  out  to  sea,  and  back  he  cannot  put  without 


INDENTURES.  97 

loss  and  shame.  Yet  that  solemn  matter  of  handing  him- 
self over  for  seven  long  years  to  a  dwelling,  a  master,  and  a 
calling  from  which  he  may  not  stir,  sits  more  lightly  ou  the 
unbroken  spirits  of  the  boy  than  a  trivial  movement  of 
three  days'  importance  on  the  man  whose  anxieties  have  be- 
come sensitive  by  the  friction  of  many  years. 

I  once  witnessed  the  ceremony  of  signing  indentures, 
and  it  impressed  me  greatly, — more  than  the  first  time  I 
eaw  the  signing  of  a  will.  It  was  a  brave  boy ;  a  rough, 
strong,  bold,  well  looking,  hardy  boy.  His  father,  a  staunch 
old  man,  was  by  his  side,  deeply  serious, — his  air  strangely 
compounded  of  sternness  and  sensibility.  His  new  master, 
too,  was  there — a  bluff  and  not  beautiful  sailor,  with  a  lip, 
a  nose,  an  eye,  and  a  voice  which,  to  me,  would  not  at  all 
recommend  an  invitation  to  seven  years'  close  company. 
The  boy  had  by  anticipation  put  on  his  chosen  life  ;  already 
gait,  attire,  and  mien,  were  sailor-like.  It  was  evidently  a 
day  of  triumph  with  him :  he  had  his  way.  Neither  the 
physiognomy  of  his  captain  nor  the  cares  of  the  future  dis- 
turbed him.  The  father  drew  a  sigh  as  he  signed  the  in- 
denture. Not  so  he ;  he  signed  it  as  though  it  had  been 
the  receipt  for  a  good  legacy,  and  he  lightly  raised  his  head. 
Ah,  but,  I  thought,  a  great  deal  more  lies  on  that  head  now 
than  when  you  stooped  it  a  moment  ago  !  There  you  are, 
delivered  up  to  the  sovereign  caprice,  the  wills,  the  words, 
the  noonday  and  the  midnight  mandates  of  that  uncomely 
skipper ;  no  small  matter,  depend  upon  it. 

Apprenticeship  is  a  great  improvement  upon  caste.  A 
perpetual  succession  from  father  to  son  of  jewellers  or  tai- 
lors, of  joiners  or  blacksmiths,  dooming  every  boy  that  is 
born  in  the  line  to  follow  the  calling  his  fathers  followed,  is 
a  most  dreary  sameness ;  a  dead  level  sweeping  away  age 
after  age  till  it  is  lost  in  the  future ;  a  turning  of  the  social 
world  into  strata,  resting  one  upon  the  other,  each  with  its 
5 


98  APPRENTICESHIP   AND   CASTE. 

appropriate  deposit  of  men,  as  the  successive  strata  of  rocks 
have  their  deposit  of  fossils,  no  one  of  which  can  ever  change 
its  position  in  the  scale.  It  is  very  well  for  trilobitcs  and 
saurians  to  be  fixed  in  strata  for  ever ;  they  suffer  nothing 
from  want  of  sympathy,  and  have  no  impulse  to  better  them- 
selves :  but  it  is  not  the  way  for  those  who  live  and  move, 
and  have  a  being.  It  is  no  plan  for  a  world  of  brothers  ; 
no  plan  for  a  world  of  sinners ;  no  plan  for  a  world  over 
which  a  Providence  watches.  It  was  natural,  as  a  first 
thought  for  securing  proficiency  in  the  various  branches  of 
trade,  scholarship,  and  arms ;  but  it  was  not  a  contrivance 
to  last  for  ever.  Yet  something  must  be  found  to  secure 
for  men  a  concentration  of  mind  and  habit  which  would  fit 
each  to  do  some  one  thing  well  for  the  general  good.  Ap- 
prenticeship, in  one  form  or  other,  is  the  resort  of  all  who 
want  to  accomplish  anything  upon  the  earth.  Each  of  the 
professions  has  its  curriculum :  the  future  ambassador  ap- 
prentices patiently  as  an  attache'- ;  the  embryo  statesman 
"  binds  "  himself  to  his  leader,  and  "  serves"  his  party ;  the 
soldier  has  his  drill ;  and  in  all  lines  of  art,  a  man  must 
either  make  up  his  mind  to  lay  out  a  long  time  in  learning, 
or  else  to  be  a  blank  and  an  abortion.  Men  enter  the  high- 
way of  life  by  ten  thousand  portals ;  but  over  each  one  of  them 
is  written  the  injunction,  Learn,  learn,  learn  !  And  he  that 
attempts  to  go  forward  without  having  waited  to  learn,  soon 
trips  and  is  lying  in  the  way  of  others. 

Rejecting,  then,  the  succession  from  father  to  son,  we 
secure  a  succession  in  lineage  of  craft.  One  man  adopts 
the  son  of  another  to  all  intents  and  purposes  of  trade.  The 
son  of  one  man  takes  another  for  his  father  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  of  trade.  A  very  solemn  parentage  and  a 
very  solemn  affiliation  it  is.  The  boy  has  elsewhere  the  pa- 
rentage of  his  affections  ;  here  he  is  most  likely  to  find  the 
parentage  of  his  principles  and  habits.  The  man  has  in 


CLASS   CONSCIENCES.  99 

others  the  children  of  his  blood,  the  heirs  of  his  money ; 
here  he  is  likely  to  find  the  offspring  of  his  conscience,  the 
heir  and  the  propagator  of  his  practices.  It  is  astonishing 
how  strikingly  the  conscience  of  men  bears  the  image  of 
those  by  whom  they  have  been  trained.  If  we  could  make 
all  the  consciences  in  this  wide  London  march  out  before  us 
in  one  great  array,  you  might  easily  classify  them  by  the 
family  likeness.  You  would  soon  select  a  group  of  the 
soldier  conscience,  another  of  the  lawyer  conscience,  another 
of  the  shopkeeper  conscience,  another  of  the  innkeeper  con- 
science, another  of  the  pawnbroker  conscience,  another  of 
the  publican  conscience,  and  so  on.  Men  talk  of  conscience 
as  if  it  were  a  determined  something,  like  the  colour  of  a 
man's  hair,  which  depended  altogether  on  interior  causes, 
and  was  not  modified  by  things  from  without.  It  is  far 
otherwise.  The  maxims  which  men  hear  passing  from  hand 
to  hand,  the  proverbs  and  the  usages  of  their  comrades,  the 
sanctions  which  are  conferred  upon  actions,  the  gloss  given 
to  dealings,  all  form  a  style  of  thought  whereby  the  moral 
appearance  of  acts  is  wonderfully  modified.  The  soldier 
has  a  morality  of  sack  and  duel,  clear  enough  to  himself; 
the  slave-owner  has  a  theory  of  servitude,  according  to  which 
he  is  an  excellent  person  ;  the  loaf-and-fish  parson  has  a 
syllogism  upon  simony,  whereby  it  is  shown  to  be  exceed- 
ingly proper  ;  the  diplomatist  is  copious  in  proofs  of  the 
utility  of  "  mystifications,"  which,  in  a  nursery,  would  be 
downright  fibs ;  the  lawyer  can  plead  for  equivocal  morals 
till  conscience  declares  them  not  guilty ;  the  doctor  can 
gild  ill-tasted  morals  till  conscience  swallows  them  without 
disgust;  the  grocer  can  spice  unsavoury  morals  till  con- 
science declares  them  fragrant  ;  the  draper  can  dress  mis- 
shapen morals  till  conscience  sees  no  deformity.  Men  always 
love  to  find  a  good  reason  and  a  good  name  for  a  bad  act. 
They  do  not  like  to  go  on  in  a  steady  course,  and  confesi 


100  TRADE  ADOPTION. 

that  it  is  wrong  they  are  doing ;  they  like  to  stand  well 
with  themselves  ;  and  it  is  really  wonderful  with  what  in- 
genuity they  will  father  a  whole  brood  of  illegitimate  acts 
on  some  most  irreproachable  principle.  Never  fail  to  sus- 
pect yourself,  when  you  find  that  you  are  getting  up  a  great 
array  of  reasons  to  prove  that  what  you  are  about  to  do  is 
right. 

Yes,  ye  masters,  it  is  an  adoption,  a  right  serious  and 
responsible  adoption,  when  you  take  a  boy  out  of  the  hands 
of  his  parents,  receive  him  under  your  roof,  and  place  him 
under  your  eye  for  seven  years  ;  to  provide  him  a  chamber 
oy  night,  a  board  by  day,  a  place  to  labour,  work  to  do,  and 
lessons  to  form  his  future  manhood.  The  seven  years  he  is 
to  pass  in  your  hands  are  the  spring  and  the  seed-time  of 
his  life  ;  the  future  crop  for  this  world  and  for  the  other  is 
chiefly  dependent  on  the  present  sowing.  His  whole  consti- 
tution is  now  flexible,  his  principles  are  just  evolving,  his 
manhood  is  taking  mould  ;  and,  according  to  the  care  and 
example  he  may  have  during  those  seven  years  of  seed-time, 
he  will  hereafter  pass  a  life  of  uprightness  and  worth,  or  a 
life  of  shuffle  and  mischief.  He  will  go  forth  your  son  in 
trade.  He  will  bear  your  image  and  likeness.  He  will  be 
a  credit  to  you,  or  a  reproach.  In  him  others  will  read 
you ;  and  happy  for  you  if  their  conclusion  be,  "Oil 
should  like  my  son  to  be  apprenticed  to  the  master  he 
served." 

There  is  a  peculiar  closeness  in  this  adoption.  When 
your  pastor  does  not  see  you,  when  your  fellow-communicants 
do  not  see  you,  when  your  friends  and  visiting  circle  do  not 
see  you,  your  adopted  boy  has  his  eye  on  your  works  and 
way.  Ay  !  tests  of  principle,  traits  of  character,  proofs  of 
your  real  estimate  of  truth  and  honour,  to  which  even  your 
wife  is  a  stranger,  come  by  degrees  before  his  eye.  That 
which  brother  or  wife  may  have  only  chance  opportunities 


A   BAD   MASTER.  101 

of  seeing,  he  is  ever  finding  out.  Yes,  while  your  own 
children  are  far  away  under  the  training  of  others,  your  son  in 
trade  is  ever  there  under  your  own  hand,  up  to  the  day 
when  you  must  send  him  forth  to  tell,  by  his  walk,  how  you 
have  discharged  your  duty.  Your  character  acts  upon  his 
with  a  tremendous  directness  and  continuity  ;  it  meets  him 
at  every  turn,  it  penetrates  into  his  mind  through  every 
inlet.  All  things  around  him  convey  it  into  his  soul ;  the 
house  he  lives  in,  by  its  arrangement  or  confusion,  its  taste 
or  vulgarity ;  the  family  of  which  he  is  a  member,  by  their 
order  or  their  negligence,  their  mutual  love  or  their  bick- 
erings ;  the  shop  in  which  he  spends  his  day,  by  its  system 
or  its  disarray  ;  the  account  books  to  which  he  has  access, 
by  their  regularity  or  their  confusion  ;  the  companions  with 
whom  he  labours,  by  their  discipline  or  their  demoralisation  ; 
the  board  at  which  he  eats,  by  its  plenty,  economy,  and 
cleanliness,  or  by  its  stinginess,  waste,  or  slovenliness ;  the 
chamber  he  sleeps  in,  by  its  comfort  or  its  cheerlessness. 
In  fact,  through  his  work,  his  food,  his  week-day,  his  Sun- 
day, his  bed,  his  home,  his  companions — through  all  objects 
that  encircle  him,  you,  you  are  day  after  day,  month  after 
month,  year  after  year,  flowing  into  his  soul  as  silently  as 
the  air  flows  into  his  breast.  You,  you  are  modifying  his 
thoughts  silently  as  the  air  modifies  the  blood.  You  form 
the  atmosphere  which  his  mind  breathes,  and  if  the  mind  is 
to  be  healthy  the  atmosphere  must  not  be  unwholesome. 

And,  ye  masters  who  make  a  profession  of  religion,  what 
tongue  is  to  tell  the  responsibility  that  lies  on  you  !  A  so- 
licitous pair  have  decided  at  last  that  their  boy  is  to  follow 
your  trade.  They  have  inquired  for  a  place  where  his  com- 
fort would  be  thought  of,  and  his  soul  not  forgotten.  They 
have  heard  that  you  are  a  member  of  such  a  church,  there- 
fore to  you  they  confide  their  lad.  They  tell  him  that  under 
your  roof  he  will  be  protected  from  many  temptations,  and 


102  A   BAD   MASTER. 

encouraged  in  everything  good.  They  leave  him  with  you. 
For  a  slight  mistake  he  receives  a  savage  rebuke.  Or,  he 
is  soberly  instructed  in  some  method  of  dealing  which  is 
plainly  unfair.  Or,  at  family  prayer  he  sees  that  his  master 
is  evidently  under  the  excitement  of  the  glass.  Or,  on  Sa- 
turday night  he  is  kept  at  work  till  the  Sabbath  has  set  in. 
Or,  on  Sabbath  morning  he  finds  that  it  is  expected  he  will 
go  out  for  that  day,  to  save  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a 
table  at  home.  Ah!  far  better  for  a  boy  to  be  thrown 
among  those  who  name  not  the  name  of  religion,  but  sin  on 
consistently,  than  among  those  who  blend  religion  and  sin 
in  a  most  poisonous  combination.  A  poor  boy  doomed  to 
be  five  or  seven  years  under  the  hands  of  an  unworthy  pro- 
fessor of  religion,  is  in  the  highroad  to  all  evil ;  and,  if  he 
escapes  that  goal,  surely  both  he  and  his  may  bless  God. 
The  man  who  was  to  be  his  pattern  teaches  him  to  coquette 
with  truth,  to  tarnish  honour,  to  be  an  adroit  money-catcher 
at  all  hazards,  to  make  integrity  a  convenience  and  gain  a 
necessary,  to  invent  quirks,  to  mask  unfair  doings,  to  recon- 
cile fraud  and  family  worship,  fibs  and  the  Lord's  table,  sel- 
fishness and  devotion.  The  man  that  was  to  be  his  pattern 
becomes  his  tempter  ;  the  years  of  his  youth,  which  were  to 
fortify  the  principles  imbibed  in  his  childhood,  sap  and  un- 
dermine them  ;  and  his  training,  which  was  to  strengthen 
him  against  the  temptations  of  life,  has  been  one  perpetual 
education  to  sin.  Ah  !  ye  faithless  masters,  who  mislead 
and  undo  the  youth  committed  to  you  by  honest  parents, 
your  repentance  had  need  be  swift,  it  had  need  be  bitter ; 
for  one  human  life  blighted  is  a  vast  and  woeful  evil — an 
evil,  whereupon  the  great  Father  of  the  young  soul  you  have 
injured  looks  down  with  a  displeasure  as  deep  as  it  is  holy. 

Alas !  for  that  man  under  whose  malign  or  negligent 
guardianship  the  sons  of  worthy  fathers  are  formed  into  worth- 
less men !  But  joy,  and  honour,  and  blessing  be  upon  the 


SCENE  OF  APPRENTICESHIP.  103 

head  of  him  who,  walking  before  his  house  in  a  perfect  way, 
invests  all  uprightness  with  an  authority  and  an  attraction 
which  invite  young  affections ;  who  removes  everything  that 
could  enfeeble  the  hold  of  truth  and  righteousness  on  the 
heart ;  who  ever  represents  integrity  and  not  finesse  as  the  way 
to  prosperity ;  who  endeavours  to  shed  upon  apprenticeship 
the  feeling  of  home ;  who,  by  sacred  Sabbath  rest,  by  win- 
ning Sabbath  comfort,  by  constant  example  of  devout  habits, 
and  by  an  occasional  word  of  warm,  friendly,  fatherly  heart- 
ening toward  piety,  succeeds  in  leading  the  youth  under  his 
care  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  in  sending  him  forth  to 
pursue  his  calling  a  good  and  a  happy  man.  Many  a  suc- 
cessful and  faithful  tradesman,  in  reviewing  the  mercies  of 
his  life,  has  ever  to  pause  with  especial  gratitude  when  he 
comes  to  the  moment  that  placed  his  training  in  the  hands 
of  a  wise  and  worthy  master.  Many  such  masters  there 
are,  upon  whose  head  and  upon  whose  children  meet  the 
blessings  of  a  family  of  former  apprentices,  who  are  now  in 
their  turn  imparting  the  good  they  received.  0  that  such 
masters  were  a  thousand  times  more  in  number  than  they 
are  ! 

When  Samuel  Budgett  set  forth  on  his  apprenticeship, 
he  turned  toward  a  brother's  door.  But  that  brother  was 
fifteen  years  his  senior,  was  master  of  a  house  and  a  busi- 
ness, and  to  SamueL  appeared  immensely  his  own  superior, — 
far  above  him  and  formidable.  Although  Kingswood  seems 
backward  now,  it  was  then  greatly  behind  what  it  is  at  present. 
Of  the  modern  houses  which  bespeak  progress  and  comfort, 
not  one  had  yet  appeared.  The  house  occupied  by  Mr.  H. 
H.  Budgett  was  very  humble  ;  yet  it  was  the  most  consider- 
able in  the  place,  "  the  great  shop  on  the  cassy."  This 
house  has  now  disappeared,  but  the  same  site  is  occupied  by 
a  shop  which  is  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  former.  All 
around  were  the  rude  and  humble  cots  of  the  collier  popu- 


104  LOSES   HIS   PLACE. 

latioD.  In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  were  nests  of  or 
gauised  robbers,  who  preyed  with  terrible  effect  on  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Samuel,  then,  began  his  regular  trade 
life  in  a  little  shop,  replenished  with  all  things  which  tho 
matrons  of  such  homesteads  as  abounded  at  Kingswood 
might  want  for  person  or  for  board.  His  duties  were  heavy 
and  his  hours  were  long.  It  was  the  wont  in  those  days  to 
work  on,  on,  as  if  men  inside  a  shop  were  made  of  other 
material  than  all  out-door  labourers,  for  whom  the  fall  of 
evening  proclaimed  a  rest.  By  six  o'clock  in  the  morning 
they  were  at  their  weary  counter ;  and  nine,  ten,  or  eleven 
at  night,  found  them  there  still.  He  worked  in  the  shop,  he 
worked  in  the  house,  he  went  upon  errands  to  Bristol ;  he 
was  ever  at  it,  "  work,  work,  work  ;"  and  often,  when  in  the 
height  of  his  career,  has  he  told  of  the  toil  and  weariness  of 
those  apprentice  days.  If  he  often  relieved  a  foot  passen- 
ger by  giving  him  a  lift  in  his  own  vehicle,  it  was  not  with- 
out citing*  times  when  such  a  kindness  would  have  made  his 
own  heart  grateful.  Sometimes,  when  in  haste,  he  has 
driven  past  a  woman  or  a  man  with  a  burthen ;  but  his 
heart  smote  him — he  could  not  proceed;  he  has  returned 
and  eased  his  own  feelings  by  easing  the  weary.  He  was 
very  little  of  his  age ;  he  was  not  strong  ;  he  failed  to  give 
satisfaction  to  his  brother  ;  so  that  in  the  middle  of  his 
time,  namely,  in  June,  1812,  the  latter  gave  him  notice  to 
leave,  assigning  as  the  reason,  to  use  the  words  of  a  memo- 
randum of  his  own  now  before  me,  "  want  of  ability."  To 
his  self-despising  and  sensitive  heart  this  was  a  terrible 
blow.  A  month  was  allowed  him  to  look  for  a  situation. 

He  heard  of  a  Mr.  B ,  in  Bristol,  who  had  a  vacancy. 

With  a  trembling  heart  he  entered  his  shop.     He  felt  as  it 
his  size,  his  looks,  his  dress,  everything  was  against  him. 

Timidly,  but  eagerly,  he  addressed  himself  to  Mr.  B . 

'•  I  fear,  you  are  not  strong  enough  for  my  situation  " 


FINDS   ANOTHER.  105 

"  0,  do  try  me,  sir,  I  am  sure  I  can  do." 
'  "  Will  you  write  your  address  ?" 

He  was  not  quite  certain  what  the  word  "  address  "  might 
mean,  so  he  replied,  "  I  can  write  an  invoice,  sir." 

"  Very  well ;  write  86lbs.  of  bacon  at  9£d.  per  Ib." 
.  He  wrote,  but  the  reckoning  was  wrong.  He  tried  a 
second  time,  but  again  failed.  His  heart  sank.  Then  in 
came  a  young  man  looking  for  the  situation,  taller,  better 
dressed,  and  in  everyway  far  more  eligible  in  appearance  than 
he.  At  him  he  looked  with  despair ;  against  such  a  rival 

he  could  have  no  hope.     Mrs.  B was  by,  and  observing 

the  excitement  of  the  poor  boy,  said  a  word  in  his  favour. 

"  But  he  is  not  strong  enough  ;  you  could  never  carry 
those  heavy  cheeses,"  pointing  to  some  high  on  the  shelves. 

"  Do  let  me  try,  sir ;  I  am  sure  I  can  do  it." 

In  a  second  he  was  up  to  the  cheeses,  and  triumphantly 
displayed  his  strength.  His  feelings  were  always  highly  ex- 
citable, and  on  an  occasion  so  urgent  rose  to  nervous  intensity. 

This,  with  his  whole  spirit,  quite  won  Mrs.   B .      She 

pleaded  for  him ;  her  husband  consented ;  and  he  left  the 
shop  happy  in  the  knowledge  that  when  his  month  was  end- 
ed he  had  a  place  awaiting  him. 

He  obtained  permission  to  leave  Kingswood  two  or  three 
days  before  the  expiration  of  the  month,  that  he  might  visit 
his  good  parents  at  Coleford.  A  younger  brother  was  now 
apprenticed  in  Bristol,  and  desirous  that  he  too  should  have 
the  pleasure  of  visiting  home,  he  applied  for  permission  foi 
him,  and  succeeded.  The  last  morning  came,  when  he  had 
to  leave  the  scene  of  his  three  years'  toil,  a  dismissed  ap- 
prentice. His  heart  was  sore — how  sore  you  may  judge, 
when  up  to  the  last  he  could  tell  every  minute  incident  of 
that  morning, — all  the  little  kindnesses  shown  to  him,  what 
was  given  him  to  breakfast,  and  what  to  eat  upon  the  way. 
He  had  asked  for  a  character ;  but  no  sooner  was  it  in  his 
5* 


106  ARITHMETIC. 

hand,  than  he  trembled  lest  it  should  be  unfavourable.  In 
his  excitement  he  turned  into  a  gate  close  by,  opened  it,  and 
read ;  and  to  his  comfort  found  that  want  of  strength  was 
all  that  was  alleged  against  him.  On  the  spot  where  he 
made  that  palpitating  pause,  afterwards  stood  his  own  house 
and  grounds. 

Joined  by  his  brother,  he  set  out  for  Coleford.  To  most 
lads,  the  failure  to  cast  up  correctly  the  price  of  86  Ibs.  of 
bacon,  at  9$d.  per  lb.,  would  scarcely  have  recurred,  except 
to  make  them  congratulate  themselves  on  having  got  over  it 
so  easily.  Not  so  Samuel  Budgett.  He  saw  that  would 
never  do  ;  he  should  not  get  on  if  he  could  not  tell  the  price 
of  pounds,  half-pounds,  quarter-pounds,  of  bacon,  butter,  and 
all  things.  His  brother  had  enjoyed  greater  advantages  of 
education  than  he,  and  the  walk  with  him  to  Coleford  was  a 
chance  he  was  not  likely  to  let  run  to  waste.  So  as  they 
walked  he  practised  addition  and  multiplication  on  all  the 
changes  of  bacon,  butter,  cheese,  and  such  practical  matters. 
"  One  hundred  pounds,  at  a  penny  a  pound,  eight  and  four- 
pence  ;"  and  so  on,  on  he  went,  mercilessly  forcing  out  of  his 
brother  all  his  arithmetical  lore.  His  brother  soon  grew 
tired  of  these  peripatetics  ;  but  Samuel  was  not  to  be  tired 
where  an  object  was  in  view,  so  he  kept  repeating  what  he 
had  learned,  varying  it,  getting  into  difficulty  again,  asking, 
and  extracting  all  the  information  he  could  get ;  thus  mak- 
ing great  head  in  the  art  of  ready  reckoning.  As  they 
trudged  and  studied,  night  fell,  and  they  were  yet  far  from 
Coleford.  Still  they  pressed  toward  home, — the  one  brother 
eagerly  pursuing  knowledge,  the  other  wearied  both  of  travel 
and  tuition.  They  found  that  they  had  lost  their  way. 
Presently  they  were  by  the  fire  of  a  coke  kiln  at  Newton, 
near  to  Bath.  Their  strength  was  worn  out,  so  down  they 
sat,  overpowered  by  fatigue,  to  pass  the  night  by  the  kiln. 
Sleep  came  pressing  heavily ;  but  oh,  those  hobgoblins  whose 


THE  JAY.  107 

feats  had  been  impressed  on  the  susceptible  mind  of  Samuel 
by  his  worsted-spinning  schoolmistress  !  they  kept  rising  in 
his  imagination,  and  every  noise  was  the  harbinger  of  some 
coming  horror.  Doubtless  that  special  ghost  who  had  been 
addicted  to  haunting  the  coalpit,  would  be  vividly  present  to 
his  recollection.  What  with  the  ache  in  his  heart,  the  fatigue 
in  his  limbs,  the  loss  of  his  way,  the  sleep  on  his  eyes,  and 
the  sprites  in  his  brain,  even  that  June  night  was  long  and 
dreary — a  night  of  discomfort,  that  would  return  to  the 
memory  when  a  thousand  nights  of  sweet  repose  were  all 
forgotten.  It  passed,  however,  without  any  worse  evil  than 
a  great  alarm  from  a  footstep,  a  figure,  and  a  voice,  which, 
nevertheless,  belonged  neither  to  a  ghost  nor  an  enemy, 
but  only  to  a  man  connected  with  the  pits.  At  length 
the  summer  morn  dawned  on  the  weary  boys,  and  a  good 
carter  happening  to  pass,  indulged  them  with  a  ride  to  Cole- 
ford. 

It  would  seem  that  things  at  home  had  not  prospered 
during  Samuel's  absence.  The  family  was  large,  and  trial 
seemed  to  be  the  allotted  portion  of  his  admirable  mother. 
When  they  arrived,  she  was  preparing  breakfast  for  the  chil- 
dren. The  fare  was  hard:  it  told  Samuel  of  straits  and 
pinches.  It  went  through  his  heart.  It  woke  again  all  his 
purposes  to  lift  the  family  up.  Had  his  impulse  to  rise  and 
prosper  for  their  sakes  been  in  danger  of  failing,  that  day's 
visit  would  have  roused  it  afresh. 

He  started  for  his  new  situation ;  but  his  early  taste  for 
bye-trading  seems  to  have  been  rekindled.  On  the  road  he 
met  a  man  who  had  a  jay ;  and  fixing  his  attention  on  the 
bird,  concluded  a  purchase  for  threepence.  On  he  went  to 
Bristol,  and  having  a  good  part  of  a  day  to  spare,  he  hoped 
to  make  a  profit  of  his  jay.  Therefore  he  proceeded  to  the 
bridge,  and  taking  his  stand  there  with  the  jay  on  his  hand, 
offered  it  publicly  for  sale.  The  day  was  passing  away  and 


108  THE  JAY. 

he  had  found  no  purchaser.  Fearful  of  losing  his  chance  al 
together,  he  forsook  his  exposed  hut  unsuccessful  position  on 
the  bridge,  and  set  off  to  some  private  houses  where  he  had 
an  idea  that  they  were  fanciers  of  birds.  At  length  he 
"  effected  a  sale"  for  a  shilling ;  thus  realising  niuepence  for 
the  labour  of  the  day. 

That  spectacle  of  the  lad  standing  in  the  thoroughfare 
with  his  jay  on  his  hand,  is  one  we  cannot  help  looking  at. 
He  was  now  about  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  had  been  fre- 
quently in  Bristol,  and  therefore  knew  something  of  a  great 
town.  The  simplicity  of  his  childish  village  dealings  could 
not  now  exist.  He  must  feel  the  peculiarity  of  his  position 
as  he  placed  himself  there.  But  he  had  seen  his  mother 
preparing  poor,  hard  fare  for  the  children.  He  had,  years 
ago,  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  making  for  her  a  happy 
home.  It  had  seemed  to  him  a  call  and  a  commission ;  and 
that  so  sacred,  that  it  balanced  his  desire  to  become  an  evan- 
gelist of  the  heathen.  He  had  an  edifice  to  build,  and  he 
oared  not  into  what  uninviting  quarry  he  wertt  to  find  even 
one  stone  to  lay  at  its  foundation.  Perhaps  there  was  not  in 
England  another  lad  of  his  age  and  circumstances  who  would 
not  have  been  ashamed  to  place  himself  on  that  bridge  to 
make  a  few  pence  by  selling  a  bird,  even  though  urged  by  the 
most  sacred  family  claims.  Yet  our  potentates  of  the  press 
would  be  more  apt  to  dwell  upon  a  brilliant  pirouette  of  a 
ballet  dancer,  a  successful  quaver  of  a  cantatrice,  a  happy 
couplet,  a  brilliant  metaphor,  a  glowing  peroration,  or  a 
flashy  jest !  Any  bright  trait  of  talent — albeit  disjoined 
from  every  worthy  purpose  and  every  sacred  application,  any 
sparkling  of  genius — albeit  the  man  who  sparkles  wallows  at 
the  same  time  and  is  foul,  any  blaze  of  the  wonderful — albeit 
he  who  astounds  never  ennobles  his  own  life  or  ameliorates 
the  lot  of  others,  is  welcomed  with  devotion  by  the  literati, 
and  proclaimed  in  chimes  of  eulogy.  But  a  boy  whose  pur- 


RETURN   TO   KING6WOOD.  109 

pose  to  do  good  for  his  father's  house  pushes  on  his  heart 
till  he  forgets  youthful  pride  and  braves  the  eye  of  all,  is  just 
acknowledged  to  do  a  feat,  but  a  feat  in  which  the  comical 
would,  in  their  sight,  overlay  the  noble.  Well,  so  be  it. 
Yet  we  would  rather  be  writing  here  of  that  lad  and  tis  jay, 
than  of  all  the  Siddonses,  Malibrans,  and  such  like  comets  of 
your  fashionable  hemisphere.  Ay,  and  in  his  exposure  of 
himself  to  personal  fatigue  and  shame  that  he  might  begin 
the  good  work  whereon  he  had  set  his  heart,  we  would  see  a 
worthier  theme  of  commendation  than  in  the  play  of  gorgeous 
genius  linked  only  with  objects  useless  or  unwise. 

The  jay  sold,  he  next  morning  repaired  to  the  house  of 

Mr.  B .     Here  he  was  very  successful.     His  master  soon 

knew  his  value,  and  his  mistress  treated  him  with  the 
greatest  kindness.  Of  these  worthy  people  (the  latter  of 
whom  still  lives),  he  always  spoke  with  gratitude.  When  he 
had  spent  about  six  months  with  them,  his  brother  became 

desirous  to  recall  him  to  his  service.     To  this  Mr.  B 

strongly  objected,  alleging  that  as  his  brother  dismissed  him 
he  could  not  possibly  have  any  claim.  He  was  very  warm 
upon  the  point,  and  offered  Samuel  an  "advancing  salary"  if 
he  would  only  stay.  But  his  brother  told  him  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  serve  out  his  time.  This  decided  him.  He  gave 
up  his  salary  in  Bristol  and  returned  to  Kingswood  to  com 
plete  the  three  years  and  more  of  the  apprenticeship  which 
remained. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  in  this  second  apprentice- 
ship or  in  the  first,  that,  by  some  means,  he  became  possessed 
of  fifteen  shillings.  Two  of  his  sisters  had  come  into  Bristol 
and  begun  business,  and  he  went  to  a  coalpit,  and  laid  out  all 
his  fifteen  shillings  in  coals  for  them  :  thus  a  second  time, 
when  he  had  saved  a  little,  he  "gave  it  all  away."  In  fact 
his  two  passions  for  gathering  and  giving  followed  him  in  all 
things,  both  great  and  small.  He  soon  became  a  favourite 


110  SUNDAYS. 

with  the  customers  of  the  shop.  He  put  so  much  heart  into 
his  attentions,  and  had,  withal,  such  address  in  his  mode  of 
serving  them,  that  many  imagined  they  got  better  weight 
from  him  than  from  any  one  else.  Many  of  the  good  women 
would  wait  long  till  he  was  at  liberty  to  execute  their  orders ; 
and  as  many  of  the  cottages  have  gardens  attached  to  them, 
it  was  not  uncommon  for  his  friends  to  bring  him  presents  of 
apples.  Here,  again,  his  economy  and  his  generosity  came 
in.  He  would  not  eat  the  apples ;  they  were  too  valuable, 
he  thought,  to  waste  upon  himself,  so  they  were  all  carefully 
stored,  and  regularly  sent  to  a  pious  widowed  aunt  residing 
in  Bristol.  When  she  died,  he  did  not  appoint  himself 
her  heir  in  respect  of  the  apples,  but  voted  another  friend 
into  that  privilege. 

During  this  time  his  Sundays  were  welcome  days.  The 
first  dawn  of  improvement  on  Kingswood  had  come  with 
Whiteficld  and  Wesley.  Their  words  had  been  wonderful  to 
the  rude,  bad  men  of  the  neighbourhood ;  and  on  not  a  few 
the  effect  had  been  wonderful  too.  Many  an  evil  life  had 
been  fashioned  anew,  and  many  a  wretched  home  lighted  up 
with  the  charities  and  the  joys  of  pure  religion.  Whitefield 
had  built  a  tabernacle  ;  Wesley  had  founded  a  school.  Each 
had  been  a  light  to  the  place.  Adjoining  the  school,  was  a 
chapel ;  and  there  it  was  the  wont  of  Samuel  Budgctt,  in  his 
apprentice  days,  to  repair  each  Sunday  morning,  with  a  mind 
eager  for  every  beam  of  intellectual  light,  with  a  heart  hun- 
gry for  every  crumb  of  spiritual  food.  For  the  week  his 
intellect  had  been  doomed  to  dearth  ;  and  no  week  ever 
passes  but  it  brings  the  soul  temptations.  On  the  Sabbath 
morning,  his  intellect  gasped  for  knowledge,  his  soul  gasped 
for  grace.  To  him,  a  sermon  was  indeed  a  repast,  a  banquet, 
a  festival.  Oh,  ye  preachers,  did  ye  only  know  what  hungry 
minds  and  hungry  souls  go  to  you  each  Lord's-day  and  look 
up  to  be  fed,  it  would  both  stir  you  to  search  for  wholesome 


THE  QUARRY.  Ill 

bread,  and  encourage  you  in  dispensing  what  you  bring ! 
Often,  often  when  Samuel  had  heard  a  sermon,  he  would  put 
his  fingers  in  his  ears  to  exclude  every  sound  that  might  drive 
away  one  thought  from  his  memory,  and  hurrying  from  the 
chapel,  would  not  stop  till  he  had  reached  an  old  quarry  that 
lay  behind  their  house.  Here  were  scattered  about  some 
pieces  of  "  slag,"  from  abandoned  "  spelter"  or  zinc  works. 
On  one  of  these  pieces  of  slag  he  would  seat  himself,  and  with 
eager  joy  lay  up  for  future  recollection  every  important  point 
of  the  discourse.  He  would  then  turn  to  his  hymn-book,  and 
to  a  volume  of  the  Methodist  Magazine  ;  and  from  one  or 
other  of  these  would  commit  to  memory  some  passage  every 
Sunday  without  exception, — something  that  might  serve  both 
to  yield  him  good  thoughts  during  the  week,  and  to  relieve 
the  hunger  he  continually  felt  for  mental  food.  Sometimes, 
as  he  sat  on  the  piece  of  slag  and  looked  around  on  the  old 
waste  quarry,  he.  wondered  if  any  of  those  places  would  ever 
belong  to  him.  Afterwards  his  own  shrubbery  flourished 
over  the  site  of  the  quarry,  and  some  blocks  of  the  slag  gar- 
nished the  edge  of  a  piece  of  water  in  his  grounds. 

On  a  fragment  of  paper  which  has  survived  his  destruc- 
tion of  his  memoranda,  I  find  a  few  sentences  evidently  be- 
longing to  a  date  about  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship,  in 
which  his  eagerness  for  improvement  breaks  out  strongly : 
"  My  time  is  flown,  and  I  am  what  I  am,  instead  of  being 
what  I  might  have  been.  My  object,  now,  is  to  regain  as  far 
as  possible  what  I  have  lost,  and  to  obtain  all  that  is  attain- 
able. My  question  now  is,  how  shall  I  become  what  I  may 
be?  Shall  I  not  do  better,  as  I  am  single,  to  remain  so  for 
the  present,  and  to  keep  my  eye  singly  directed  to  the  attain- 
ment of  religious  and  useful  knowledge  ?  0  wisdom !  O 
knowledge  !  The  very  expressions  convey  ideas  so  delightful 
to  my  mind  that  I  am  ready  to  leap  out  and  fly  ;  for  why 


112  LOVE   AND   KNOWLEDGE. 

should  my  ideas  always  be  confined  within  the  narrow  con> 
pass  of  our  shop  walls." 

Yes,  why  indeed?  In  whatever  department  of  labour 
Providence  may  assign  to  man  his  task,  he  has  within  him 
the  mind  which  is  open  to  the  infinite  and  destined  to  the 
eternal.  It  is  ever  there,  capable  of  expansion,  growth,  and 
fruit,  although  it  may  be  benumbed  and  frozen  by  the  cares 
and  toils  of  earth.  All  minds  should  have  food ;  for  the 
soul  to  be  without  knowledge  is  not  good ;  and  they  whose 
calling  places  them  amid  the  bustle  of  commerce  in  its  lower 
and  more  hurrying  walks,  require,  as  much  as  any  class  of 
men  on  earth,  the  refreshment  and  the  elevation  which  know- 
ledge, fitly  sought  and  judiciously  selected,  is  calculated  to 
bestow.  But,  in  the  aspirations  of  Samuel  Budgett  quoted 
above,  we  certainly  have  not  the  mawkish  longing  of  a  would- 
be  intellectual  for  amusing  books  instead  of  fatiguing  busi- 
ness. We  have  there  the  honest  outcry  of  a  mind  which  by 
innate  energy  must  work,  for  material  to  work  upon. 

There  are  two  things  which,  to  look  upon,  are  very  un- 
comely. The  one,  a  man  who  has  risen  in  the  world,  and  as 
he  rose  has  improved  his  attire,  improved  his  abode,  improv- 
ed his  fare,  improved  his  furniture,  improved  his  children, 
improved  his  servants,  improved  his  circle  of  friends,  but  has 
never  improved  his  mind.  There  it  is,  the  same  mind  pre- 
cisely in  fine  broadcloth  and  "  velvet  hat,"  that  it  was  in  fus- 
tian and  paper  cap  ;  the  same  mind  with  a  carriage  and  pair 
that  it  was  with  heavy  clogs ;  the  same  mind  with  silver  ser 
vices  and  champagne  and  venison,  that  it  was  with  pcwtei 
and  cheese  and  ale ;  the  same  mind  with  daughters  that  can 
play  Handel  and  read  Racine,  that  it  would  have  been  with 
daughters  who  never  touched  a  key  or  opened  a  grammar ; 
the  same  mind  with  circles  of  educated  friends,  who  value  hii 
•ense  and  worth  despite  the  remnants  of  the  outlandish,  as  it 


POSITION  AND  MIND.  113 

was  with  friends  whose  talk  was  a  dialect  of  other  days  and 
all  on  themes  intimate  to  the  village. 

Now,  that  kind  of  spectacle  is  beyond  doubt  most  parti- 
cularly uncomely.  You  never  see  it  without  feeling  your 
temper  a  little  tried,  'in  the  name  of  common  sense  and 
common  propriety,  why  did  not  the  man,  when  he  saw  that 
Providence  was  lifting  him  up  in  society,  take  a  little  pains 
to  fit  himself  for  his  new  position,  as  he  did  to  fit  everything 
about  him  for  it  ?  He  would  not  furnish  his  fine  house  with 
the  same  articles  which  sufficed  for  his  original  dwelling.  The 
house  must  needs  have  seemly  furniture  ;  and  it  should  also 
have  a  seemly  master.  Three-legged  stools  and  plain  deal 
tables  would  look  quaint  beside  damasks  and  mirrors  and 
chandeliers;  but  do  not  queer  rough  accents  and  vulgar 
phrases  look  quite  as  odd  there  ?  Do  then,  if  rising  in  life, 
take  a  little  pains ;  not  to  make  yourself  an  accomplished 
man  in  letters  or  in  etiquette,  that  is  out  of  the  question  now, 
and  it  is  not  the  thing  for  you  to  run  after  even  if  hope  of 
overtaking  it  remained ;  but,  take  a  little  pains  to  rub  off  all 
offensive  roughnesses  which  have  been  left  by  early  neglect, 
and  which  abridge  your  influence  and  usefulness  in  your  new 
sphere.  But  remember,  young  lady  at  the  grand  piano,  you 
are  not  to  blush  for  the  ill-ordered  grammar  of  papa.  He  is 
of  a  great  deal  more  consideration  in  the  world  than  you  will 
ever  be.  You  will  never  rise  above  the  level  to  which  his 
brave  arm  carries  you,  and  had  it  not  been  for  his  talent  and 
worth  you  would  not  have  been  at  that  piano,  but  mayhap  at 
a  spinning  jenny.  Honour  him  as  he  deserves,  and  all  sensi- 
ble men  will  honour  you.  See  that  you  use  well  the  valuable 
fruits  which  his  labours  have  obtained  for  you. 

But  uncomely  as  is  the  spectacle  of  a  man  whose  mind  is 
behind  his  circumstances,  there  is  another  spectacle  quite  as 
uncomely  and  far  more  provoking.  A  young  man  whom 
Providence  has  plainly  designed  to  serve  his  generation  by 


114  POLYSMATTER. 

following  some  useful  business,  has  taken  it  into  his  head  to 
be  a  man  of  parts  and  a  hero  hunter.  He  has  some  notion 
of  the  new  books  and  of  the  great  men  who  are  just  now  a 
going.  He  is  deep  in  Warren,  thinks  well  of  Macaulay, 
patronizes  Carljle,  has  an  opinion  on  Chateaubriand  and 
Alexander  Dumas,  knows  that  Tennyson  is  poet  laureate, 
and  kncds  down  to  Dickens.  He  is  versed  in  the  Parlia- 
mentary orators,  balances  Disraeli  and  Derby  most  nicely,  is 
at  home  on  the  merits  of  the  great  preachers,  and,  above  all 
things,  his  talk  smells  of  science.  He  often  hears  Professor 
Polysmatter,  Professor  Panprattle,  and  Professor  Polu- 
phloisbos,  who  lecture  on  aesthetics,  megalosauri,  metem- 
psychosis, and  several  other  things  with  brave  names ;  he, 
therefore,  talks  of  elements,  strata,  developments,  oxygen, 
carbonic  acid,  and  the  vital  principle.  He  is  very  "  intellec- 
tual," and,  in  business,  very  good  for  nothing.  He  makes  a 
great  figure  in  discussion,  but  a  poor  figure  in  work.  He 
sneers  at  his  neighbour,  who  has  not  "  two  ideas  ;"  but  his 
neighbour  has  a  quiet  consciousness  that  with  his  one  idea, 
he  manages  to  get  on  better  than  Polysmatter  with  his  pro- 
fusion of  ideas.  He  wonders  how  his  neighbour  has  so  little 
taste  ;  his  neighbour  wonders  how  he  has  so  little  sense.  He 
is  surprised  that  his  neighbour  does  not  buy  more  books  and 
hear  more  professors  ;  his  neighbour  wonders  how  he  can  be 
constantly  running  after  everything  but  his  business.  He 
thinks  his  neighbour  not  at  all  fit  to  converse  with  men  of 
education  ;  his  neighbour  sees  that  men  of  education  never 
laugh  at  him,  while  they  always  laugh  at  Polysmatter. 

Now,  this  Polysmatter  is  ridiculous  even  beside  the  good 
man  who  is  untutored  amid  glittering  affluence.  You  may 
regret  that  the  latter  has  not  been  awake  to  the  duty  of 
self-improvement ;  but  you  cannot  despise  him.  He  has  not 
missed  his  way.  He  is  no  abortion.  He  has  done  his  work. 
He  has  elevated  a  family.  He  has  set  an  example  of  ener- 


FALSE  MENTAL   IMPROVEMENT.  115 

gy.  He  has  filled  up  in  the  movement  of  society  the  full 
place  of  a  workman.  As  he  stands  there  in  his  homeliness, 
even  though  you  were  as  fastidious  as  Beau  Nash,  you  prefer 
him  ten  thousand  times  to  an  imposture  of  a  man,  who,  being 
called  to  labour  at  an  honest  trade,  betakes  himself  to  dan- 
difying his  intellect.  "  But,"  cries  Polysmatter,  "  a  man 
ought  to  improve  his  mind."  To  be  sure  he  ought;  but  do  you 
call  that  kind  of  work  improving  the  mind — turning  it  away 
from  the  task  God  has  set  before  it,  giving  it  a  disrelish  for 
plain  and  serviceable  duty,  habituating  it  to  sips  and  scents 
and  whifis  and  glimpses  and  passing  tones  of  every  sort  of 
glossy,  pretty,  jingling  smatter,  and  thus  unfitting  it  for  all 
sober  thought  and  real  knowledge,  all  deep  search  after  truth, 
all  earnest  application  to  duty.  Improve  your  mind,  indeed ! 
You  are  leading  it,  poor  mind,  a  most  ruinous  course  ;  you 
are  spoiling  its  taste,  spoiling  its  digestion,  relaxing  its  mus- 
cles, enfeebling  its  joints  and  sinews,  and  making  it  fit 
neither  for  books  nor  business — a  sheer  wreck  of  dissipation. 
You  are  just  doing  with  your  mind  what  a  man  would  do 
with  his  body,  if,  under  pretext  of  improving  it,  he  set  to 
and  learned  the  names  of  all  the  most  celebrated  pastry- 
cooks, made  acquaintance  with  all  the  tastiest  dishes,  all  the 
richest  wines,  all  the  best  spicery,  and  fed  himself  with 
scraps  of  dainty  confectionery  and  scents  of  perfumery.  He 
might  be  a  great  connoisseur,  might  have  a  deal  to  say,  and 
might  enjoy  the  thing  for  a  while  ;  but  his  poor  body  would 
soon  be  unfit  for  any  purpose  for  which  God  ever  sent  a  man 
into  the  world.  This  is  quite  the  case  with  the  mind  of  a 
man  who,  having  little  time  to  read,  sets  up  for  a  savant, 
and  runs  about  tasting  literary  confectionery,  instead  of 
taking  some  substantial  food,  eating  it,  digesting  it,  absorb- 
ing it  into  his  own  frame,  and  deriving  from  it  both  vivacity 
and  force. 

Many  who  pretend  to  be  improving  their  mind  are  not 


116  THE  MAN  OF  PARTS. 

only  dissipating  it,  but  debasing  it.  Improving  it !  what  do 
they  introduce  to  it  by  way  of  improving  it,  forsooth  ?  Fic- 
tion, nonsense,  trifle,  trash,  intrigue,  the  vices  in  court  dress. 
If  their  mind  is  to  be  improved  by  that,  it  must  be  bad  in- 
deed. No,  no ;  it  is  idle  to  say  that  the  things  which  many 
read  are  read  from  any  view  to  improvement.  Such  things 
are  read  from  sheer  badness  of  heart,  from  the  love  of  evil 
excitement,  from  the  impulse  of  the  great  tempter.  For 
one  man  who  reads  novels  from  anything  like  a  literary  aim, 
there  are  a  thousand  who  read  them  just  because  they 
stimulate  low  passions. 

Yes,  you  ought  to  improve  your  mind ;  but  then,  take 
care  you  do  not  set  up  for  a  man  of  parts.  From  that  day 
your  mind  is  in  a  lost  case — as  lost  as  a  garden  plot  in  which 
you  attempted  to  grow  cereals,  vegetables,  flowers,  shrubs, 
and  forest  trees  all  in  one  crop.  If  you  want  to  improve 
your  mind,  do  what  Samuel  Budgett  did.  Feel  that  you 
know  little ;  be  content  that  others  should  see  that ;  ask 
questions  which  show  your  ignorance  ;  set  about  reading 
something  solid, — something  which  will  enable  you  better  to 
understand  man,  the  earth,  the  sky,  the  Bible.  Learn  your 
own  tongue.  Learn  your  own  world.  Know  not  only  its 
continents  but  its  nooks  ;  not  only  its  nations,  but  its  tribes; 
not  only  its  great  systems,  but  its  sects.  Learn  history,  an- 
cient, modern,  ecclesiastical, — any  branch  of  it ;  for  all  tell 
of  man  and  of  Providence.  Learn  poetry  ;  fix  some  of  it, 
however  little,  in  your  memory.  A  few  good  pieces  made 
thoroughly  your  own,  will  insensibly  refine  your  taste,  ele- 
vate your  conceptions,  and  improve  your  mode  of  expres- 
sion. Learn,  in  fact,  anything  that  is  real,  solid,  useful ; 
but  learn  it.  Do  not  taste  and  smell ;  eat.  Do  not  per- 
fume your  raiment  with  the  scent  of  knowledge  ;  what  you 
know,  know  it,  and  be  the  better.  Be  content  to  know 
little.  Be  content  to  add  to  your  knowledge  slowly.  Be 


THE   SHOWY   AND  THE  SOLED.  117 

content  to  be  unnoticed  when  Poiysmatter  is  passing  for  a 
prodigy,  and  to  hold  your  peace  when  Poluphloisbos  is  roll- 
ing forth  cataracts  of.  erudition. 

In  our  day,  the  race  of  business  men  who  pass  through 
life  in  stolid  ignorance  of  all  outside  their  trade,  is  rapidly 
passing  away.  But  then  arises  the  danger  of  a  race  of 
Polysmatters.  Men  of  sense  will,  of  course,  avoid  both  ex- 
tremes ;  and  instances  abound  on  all  hands,  where  the  most 
useful  habits  of  business  are  admirably  combined  with  an 
extensive  and  a  modest  intelligence.  The  scholar  must  ever 
respect  the  man  who  well  understands  his  own  calling,  even 
though,  to  all  beyond  it,  his  opportunities  or  his  abilities 
have  left  him  a  stranger.  But  no  man  can  respect  one  who 
spoils  himself  for  his  own  calling  by  affecting  anything  else. 
But  it  is  specially  pleasant  to  see  a  man  combining  with  the 
punctuality,  the  order,  the  self-reliance,  the  promptitude, 
the  knowledge  of  men,  the  common  sense,  which  belong  to 
your  thorough-made  man  of  business,  a  sympathy  with  all 
higher  pursuits,  and  a  becoming  acquaintance  with  the  his- 
tory of  man  and  the  handiwork  of  God. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  ardent  as  was  Mr.  Budg- 
ett's  desire  for  knowledge,  he  never  permitted  it  to  trench 
on  his  proper  engagements.  He  would  as  much  have  blamed 
him  who  permitted  a  love  of  reading  to  seduce  him  from  his 
clear  path  of  duty,  as  he  would  have  pitied  him  who  had  no 
relish- for  anything  above  bargains  and  profits.  What  he 
wanted  was  not  to  be  a  scholar ;  much  less  to  put  on  the 
air  and  talk  of  a  scholar ;  but  to  have  some  actual  know- 
ledge and  some  ennobling  sentiment  laid  up  within  him,  that 
his  mind  might  feed  and  grow  stronger.  The  annexed  let- 
ter, written  about  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship,  will  show 
precisely  in  what  spirit  he  coveted  knowledge. 


118  BELF-EMPEOVEMENT. 

"Kingtwood  Hill,  August  29M,  1816. 

"  MY  VERY  DEAR  FRIEND, — Your  affectionate  letter  I  re- 
ceived last  week.  After  I  had  dismissed  the  business  of 
the  day,  I  retired  to  my  room,  sat  down,  and  began  to  think, 
how  long  is  it  since  I  received  Mr.  M.'s  book  of  extracts? — 
How  long  since  he  requested  me  to  send  him  a  plan  for  keeping 
a  common-place  book? — turning  to  my  little  library,  Why 
did  I  place  so  many  books  on  those  shelves?  &c.,  &c.  The 
feelings  of  my  mind  on  that  occasion  I  cannot  describe  to 
you ;  I  believe  it  was  something  like  one  awakening  from  a 
dream  who  ought  to  have  been  on  an  important  journey  some 
hours  before.  I  saw  that  all  my  powers  had  been  in  a  state 
of  dormancy.  I  began  to  reflect  on  your  past  kindness,  and 
considered  that  I  had  not  even  read  all  your  book,  though  I 
intended  copying  a  great  deal  of  it.  How  plainly  did  I  see, 
and  to  my  sorrow  feel,  the  truth  of  your  observation,  that 
the  mind  when  once  enlightened,  having  lost  the  love  of  God, 
is  in  a  more  inactive  state  than  ever.  I  saw  that  my  whole 
mind  had  been  swallowed  up  in  business,  to  the  great  neg- 
lect of  my  spiritual  and  mental  concerns.  I  considered  that 
I  had  been  but  little  different  for  seven  years;  and  from 
your  letter  I  discovered  that  you  appeared  to  be  sinking  into 
the  same  state.  After  pausing  some  time  (for  I  had  no  sup- 
per that  night,  but  continued  in  my  room  reasoning  and 
endeavouring  to  think  on  what  had  passed  until  bed  time), 
I  thought,  What  a  deplorable  state  are  we  in !  what  can  be 
done  ?  I  determined  however  to  do  something.  I  took  up 
my  pen  and  wrote  down  a  few  little  things  that  I  had  neg. 
lected.  and  resolved  to  execute  them  in  order,  and  as  fast  as 
possible,  praying  for  the  blessing  of  God  on  my  weak  endea- 
vours. One  was  to  comply  with  your  request  in  getting 
Locke's  method  of  keeping  a  common-place  book ;  secondly, 
to  write  to  you  and  Mr.  T ;  thirdly,  to  finish  reading 


SELF-IMPROVEMENT.  119 

your  book  of  extracts  and  copy  what  part  I  intended.  Another 
was  to  get  a  little  book  arranged  after  Locke's  method,  to 
enter  all  the  pieces  I  commit  to  memory,  that  I  may  have  a 
kind  of  index  to  my  mind ;  with  several  little  things  relative 
to  the  improvement  of  my  own  mind.  Join  with  me,  my  dear 
friend,  join  with  me  in  praying  that  the  Lord  may  add  his 
blessing  to  my  resolutions,  and  I  believe  we  shall  soon  see 
better  days.  Let  us  look  to  that  God  who  has  promised 
1 1  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou 
shalt  go,  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye ;'  '  I  am  the  light  of 
the  world ;  he  that  follows  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.'  Surely  we  err  in  not  fol- 
lowing him  more  closely  ;  perhaps  we  have  not  thought 
highly  enough  of  our  calling.  Let  us  begin  to  double  our 
diligence,  and  henceforward  walk  as  children  of  the  light. 
Inclosed  you  have  a  small  book  with  the  index  to  Locke's 
common-place  book  ruled  in  it,  of  which  I  must  beg  your  ac- 
ceptance as  a  small  token  of  my  love  and  affection  for  you  ; 
for  an  explanation  of  which.  I  must  refer  you  to  the  third 
volume  of  his  works,  as  the  limit  of  my  room  will  not  allow 
me  to  give  it  sufficiently  clear  to  be  understood.  I  have  not 
written  a  list  of  my  books  yet,  but  hope  to  do  it  soon,  and 
will  send  it  you  in  my  next.  As  it  respects  my  coming  to 
Frome,  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  invitation.  I  have  intend- 
ed going ;  but  I  assure  you,  when  it  comes  to  the  point,  I 
have  no  inclination  to  go  anywhere;  for  if  I  cannot  find 
happiness  at  home,  it  is  in  vain  to  seek  it  anywhere  else.  I 
think  if  I  were  to  come  with  the  determination  to  enjoy 
the  company  of  my  friends  by  going  to  any  places  of  recrea- 
tion or  amusement,  though  I  am  very  fond  of  such  kind  of 
engagements,  particularly  where  religion  and  real  happiness 
is  the  subject  of  conversation,  yet  it  may  tend  rather  to  di- 
vert my  mind  from  God  as  the  source  of  my  happiness,  than 
unite  it  to  him.  But  for  one  thing  I  have  long  felt  an  ear- 


120  LEARNING   AND  WEALTH. 

neat  though  secret  desire ;  which  is,  to  spend  a  little  time 

with  you  and  Mr.  T alone,  where  no  object  but  God 

could  attract  our  attention  ;  that  we  may,  by  devout  conver- 
sation, by  humble,  fervent,  faithful  prayer,  get  our  souls 
united  to  each  other  and  to  God,  our  living  Head,  by  the 
strongest  ties  of  love  and  affection.  Pray  for  me,  my  dear 
friend.  I  have  only  one  more  request  to  make  ;  that  is  that 
you  will  write  soon,  and  believe  me  your  most  affectionate 
friend,  "  8.  B.» 

But  many  who  have  some  relish  for  reading  while 
youth  is  warm,  lose  it  all  as  cares  or  riches  multiply.  Then 
they  have  no  leisure  for  a  book,  and  no  heart  if  they  had  the 
leisure.  The  morning  paper  is  their  Bible,  their  Milton, 
their  Rollin,  their  Bacon,  their  Humboldt,  their  Burke, 
their  Scott,  their  intellectual  all.  And,  perhaps,  that  is 
prized,  not  exactly  because  it  deals  with  knowledge,  but 
because  some  items  of  the  knowledge  affect  the  pocket. 
A  Kafir  raid  and  a  Parisian  revolution  are  interesting, 
not  because  they  display  the  condition  and  affect  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  but  because  they  tell  upon  stocks. 
Ah !  how  some  of  your  "  hundred-thousanders "  would  be 
stunned  by  a  sentence  condemning  them  to  read  Josephus 
or  the  Diversions  of  Purley  from  end  to  end.  Would 
not  some  of  them  prefer  a  three  days'  panic  upon  'Change  ? 
Would  not  some  of  them  almost  as  soon  "  promise  to  pay" 
the  Spanish  bonds  as  promise  to  read  through  the  Welling- 
ton Dispatches  ?  But,  up  to  the  last,  Mr.  Budgett  evinced 
a  vivacious  zest  for  knowledge.  As  he  began  to  with- 
draw from  the  more  active  duties  of  business,  he  plunged 
into  his  library,  and  there,  day  by  day,  spent  happy  hours 
in  studying  geography,  studying  history,  studying  God's  holy 
word.  In  all  these  pursuits  his  interest  was  intense,  and 
proved  that  had  his  lot  been  cast  otherwise  than  in  business, 


A  SALARY.  121 

his  literary  tastes  would  have  been  not  less  ardent  than  his 
mercantile.  Hereafter  it  will  be  my  duty  to  furnish  a  speci 
men  of  his  time  table,  showing  what  he  read  and  how  many 
hours  he  spent  daily  in  his  study. 

His  knowledge  was  not  jewellery,  worn  as  ornament,  but 
capital  turned  to  account.  In  his  apprenticeship  he  became 
an  active  Sunday-school  teacher,  and  in  that  avocation  then 
•pent  many  Sabbaths  which  he  always  counted  among  the 
happiest  days  of  his  life.  When  he  rose  in  influence  and 
wealth,  he  did  not,  as  so  many  do,  forsake  the  toilsome  and 
humble  school ;  but,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  laboured  in 
that  sphere  with  heart  and  success  to  the  last. 

He  was  -about  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  his  appren- 
ticeship expired.  He  then  made  an  engagement  with  his 
brother  for  three  years,  at  a  salary  of  forty,  fifty,  and  sixty 
pounds  respectively.  Thus  at  last,  twelve  full  years  from 
the  time  when  he  began  his  trading,  he  was  fairly  started 
in  the  way  of  earning  a  livelihood  and  laying  the  foundation 
of  success.  As  of  wont,  his  economy  was  strict ;  not  one 
farthing  that  human  art  could  bind,  escaped  on  any  errand 
for  his  personal  purposes.  For  those  he  loved  they  were 
free  enough  to  go  ;  but  as  to  himself,  his  attire  was  the  hum- 
blest that  care  could  make  it,  and  of  luxuries  all  he  indulged 
in  was  a  few  modest  books.  At  the  end  of  the  three  years, 
he  had  full  one  hundred  pounds  saved  out  of  his  salary. 
Here,  then,  he  was  once  more  in  wealth  ;  and  that  to  three- 
fold the  extent  of  his  first  fortune  at  Coleford.  That  had 
been  procured  by  trade  ;  this  by  the  more  adhesive  process 
of  saving.  What  men  gather  by  little  and  little,  by  shutting 
up  every  outlet  of  self-indulgence,  by  watching  a  penny  and 
weighing  it,  they  are  prone  to  value  and  to  hold.  Samuel 
Budgett,  habituated  as  he  was  rapidly  to  discern  the  great 
in  the  little,  would  see  in  his  hundred  pounds  the  germ  of 
large  possessions.  But  his  thirty  pounds  had  gone  ;  his  fif- 
6 


122  "GAVE  IT  ALL  AWAY." 

teen  shillings  had  gone;  and  now  his  greater  hoard  was 
menaced.  His  brother  had  embarked  in  a  banking  specula- 
tion. It  had  gone  wrong  ;  and  though  the  regular  business 
was  thriving,  Samuel  saw  him  in  jeopardy.  He  at  once 
begged  him  to  accept  his  store.  And  thus,  the  third  time, 
after  having  laid  up  the  foundation  of  a  fortune,  he,  at  the 
call  of  family  affection,  "  gave  it  all  away." 

He  had  now  been  fifteen  years  in  trade ;  five  as  an  ama- 
teur, seven  as  an  apprentice,  and  three  as  a  salaried  assist- 
ant. Yet  he  was  no  richer  than  when  the  blacksmith  gave 
into  his  hand  his  first  penny.  The  most  successful  do  not 
succeed  at  once.  But  if  he  had  no  store  of  money,  he  had 
gained  and  permanently  secured  the  habit  of  making,  the 
habit  of  saving,  and  the  habit  of  giving.  These  three  habits 
accorded  with  all  his  own  purposes,  and  expressed  the  sense 
of  a  motto  which  he  early  adopted  and  resolutely  held.  John 
Wesley,  in  his  powerful  sermon  on  the  use  of  money,  lays 
down  these  three  rules — Make  all  you  can  ;  save  all  you  can  ,• 
give  all  you  can.  Samuel  Budgett's  natural  dispositions, 
early  habits,  and  intentions  for  life,  all  prepared  him  to  ac- 
cept these  principles.  To  make,  to  save,  to  give,  he  set  him- 
self. To  make  without  saving,  is  useless  and  absurd.  To 
save  without  giving,  is  covetousness  and  idolatry.  To  make 
and  then  save,  is  wise.  To  save  and  then  give,  is  Christian. 
Samuel  had  now  well  habituated  himself  to  all  these  three 
habits.  He  maintained  them  to  the  last.  Their  acquisition 
in  his  youth  was  more  to  him  than  if  he  had  started  with 
ten  thousand  pounds. 

We  have  already  said  that  the  business  was  prospering ; 
and  Mr.  H.  II.  Budgctt,  who  had  founded  it,  now  rewarded 
Samuel's  industry  by  taking  him  into  partnership.  Soon 
after  he  took  a  little  cottage  in  a  lane  opposite  the  shop.  He 
had  very  early  formed  an  attachment  to  Miss  Smith,  a  young 
lady  of  respectable  family,  at  Midsomer  Norton.  But  he 


MAEEIAGE.  123 

waited  for  the  time  when  Providence  should  place  him  in 
circumstances  to  offer  a  home  to  a  wife.  Up  to  that  day  he 
would  say  no  word  of  what  had  long  been  in  his  heart.  That 
day  came  at  last.  He  believed  that  the  good  hand  of  Pro- 
vidence had  marked  the  moment  when  he  might  properly 
make  himself  a  home.  After  the  struggles  of  his  youth  he 
found  himself  blessed  with  a  happy  fireside  and  a  cheerful 
prospect  in  trade. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EISE      AND      PROGRESS. 

"Business  Is  what  it  is  made  to  be." 

OF  the  many  proverbs  which  Mr.  Budgett  familiarly  used, 
none  was  firmer  set  in  his  convictions  than  that  which 
stands  above.  He  would  have  it  that  a  business  was  limited 
only  by  the  energy  of  its  conductors.  Obstacles  of  time, 
situation,  poverty,  and  competition  were,  he  insisted,  all  ca- 
pable of  being  overcome.  He  would  contend  that  every  first- 
rate  man  of  business  could  create  a  first-rate  business.  This 
may  be  perfectly  true  ;  and  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  every 
man  can  create  a  first-rate  business,  just  because  every  man 
is  not  a  first-rate  man.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  be- 
cause a  man  has  failed  of  rising  to  wealth  therefore  he  has 
not  done  his  best.  He  may  or  he  may  not.  But  if  he  be 
only  a  man  of  limited  resources,  great  achievements  are  not 
to  be  expected  from  him.  Men  who  have  an  energy  before 
which  obstacles  appear  to  vanish,  and  an  address  to  which 
no  embarrassment  is  inextricable,  are  often  in  danger  of  for- 
getting that  feebler  men  cannot  effect  what  they  have  effect- 
ed. .  It  is  perfectly  true  that  business  is  what  it  is  made  to 
be  ;  but  that  very  thing,  so  far  from  proving  that  every 
man  may  have  a  flourishing  business,  only  proves  that  every 
incompetent  man  is  sure  to  be  always  low.  A  book,  as  well 


FIRST   STEP   UPWARDS.  125 

as  a  business,  is  what  it  is  made  to  be  ;  but  some  or  us  know 
full  well  that  when  we  have  diligently  done  our  endeavour, 
we  cannot  make  a  first-rate  book.  Even  so,  in  business, 
many  there  are  who  cannot  rise,  many  who  cannot  help  de- 
scending, many  who  of  necessity  fall,  many  who  may  earn 
their  bread  while  others  direct,  but  who  only  waste  it  when 
once  the  direction  is  in  their  own  hands.  "  Every  man  in 
his  own  order."  He  that  made  us  has  not  made  us  equal. 
Some  have  powers  that  will  accomplish  anything  :  let  them 
be  thankful ;  they  must  give  account.  Some  have  powers 
before  which  difficulties  enlarge,  and  opportunities  vanish  : 
let  them  recognise  their  weakness,  be  humble,  take  advice, 
and  find  a  sphere  suitable  to  their  actual  capabilities.  But, 
though  all  cannot  gain  eminence,  every  honest,  frugal,  and 
hard  working  man  will  make  his  way. 

Mr.  Budgett  was  naturally  fitted  for  an  enlarged  com- 
merce. The  same  impulse  which  in  childhood  had  set  him 
upon  trading,  urged  him  in  manhood  to  extend  and  rise. 
While  still  in  his  brother's  employment,  he  suggested  new 
plans  of  conducting  the  purchases,  and  took  that  department, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  into  his  own  hands.  The  markets 
were  well  watched,  every  advantage  of  time  or  change  turned 
to  account,  and  his  singular  power  of  cheap  buying  exerted 
with  all  vigour.  The  trade  steadily  grew ;  every  now  and 
then  those  in  their  own  line  were  surprised  at  the  sales  they 
were  able  to  make,  and  the  neighbourhood  resounded  with 
the  news  of  the  great  bargains  to  be  had  at  Budgett's.  As 
custom  increased,  so  did  envy  and  accusation.  Many  scru- 
pled not  to  declare  that  they  sold  cheaper  than  they  bought, 
and  therefore  must  soon  come  to  an  end.  Yet  they  went  on, 
year  by  year,  in  steady  and  rapid  increase.  I  am  not,  how- 
ever, prepared  to  say,  that  the  expedient  called  in  trade 
u  leading  articles,"  was  not  sometimes  resorted  to.  Leading 
articles  in  commerce,  like  leading  articles  in  journalism,  are 


126  "LEADING  ARTICLES." 

articles  set  forth  in  a  more  prominent  manner  than  others, 
and  meant  to  make  a  character  for  the  whole.  A  man  takes 
a  certain  article,  and  soils  it  at  cost  price,  or  below  cost 
price,  to  give  the  public  an  impression  that  his  goods  are 
surpassingly  cheap ;  meaning  to  make  up  what  he  loses  on 
that  article  by  the  sale  of  others.  In  the  retail  grocery 
trade,  almost  every  man  sells  sugar  in  this  way,  without 
profit,  or  even  sometimes  at  a  slender  loss.  It  is  impossible 
to  say  that  a  man  is  bound  to  charge  a  profit  on  every  par- 
ticular article  in  his  shop.  And  Mr.  Budgett,  being  per- 
suaded that  he  could  on  the  whole  "  do  better  "  for  his  cus- 
tomers than  others,  thought  it  was  perfectly  fair  to  gain  their 
attention  to  that  which  would  be  to  their  benefit  by  means 
which  did  not  involve  any  wrong.  This  would  be  perfectly 
satisfactory  if  the  only  parties  concerned  were  the  individual 
trader  and  the  customer.  It  is  altogether  a  different  case 
from  that  of  the  unquestionable  sharper,  who  offers  a  few 
articles  at  tempting  prices,  that  he  may  catch  unwary  folks, 
and  fleece  them  by  sales  of  poor  goods  at  great  profits.  This 
man  cheats  even  his  customer,  and  deceives  him  too  ;  for  he 
makes  the  impression  that  he  is  going  to  sell  cheaper  than 
others,  whereas,  in  fact,  he  means  to  charge  more.  When  a 
man  really  means  to  serve  the  customer  better  than  he  be- 
lieves him  to  be  served  elsewhere,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  he 
might  be  strong  in  a  conviction  of  his  own  integrity,  while 
he  offered  one  article  at  an  inviting  price ;  but  he  ought  to 
bethink  him  that  he  and  the  customer  are  not  the  only  par- 
ties affected  by  the  transaction.  There  is  some  other  dealer 
from  whom  that  customer  is  turned.  If  a  man  feels  that  he 
can  serve  the  public  with  a  certain  article  better  than  they 
are  usually  served,  he  is  right  to  do  so.  But  he  ought  only 
to  take  such  modes  of  attracting  the  attention  of  the  publio 
as  arise  out  of  the  actual  advantages  he  has  to  offer.  He  is 
not  bound  to  withhold  a  general  advantage  because  it  may 


PROSPECTS   OF  WHOLESALE.  127 

cause  an  individual  loss, — quite  the  contrary  :  but  he  ought 
not  to  parade  any  advantage  that  is  not  real,  to  create  any 
impression  that  is  not  correct ;  to  hold  out  the  bait  of  one 
kind  of  service,  while  he  means  to  perform  another.  The 
Messrs.  Budgett,  I  fully  believe,  were  convinced  that  in  this 
point  they  allowed  only  what  was  quite  defensible  ;  and,  so 
far  as  their  customers  were  concerned,  I  am  persuaded  that 
to  them  no  wrong  was  done  ;  but  as  a  mode  of  competition, 
the  system  of  leading  articles  is  decidedly  to  be  condemned 
in  itself,  and  especially  so  as  it  offers  to  dishonest  men  a  bait 
whereby  to  entrap  prey.  Your  duty  as  a  tradesman  is  so  to 
frame  your  method  of  business  that  it  shall  serve  the  inter- 
ests of  the  public  in  the  highest  possible  degree ;  and  then, 
as  to  gaining  the  public  eye,  why,  trust  to  sterling  industry, 
to  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  your  system,  and  above  all  to 
the  blessing  of  Providence,  for  as  much  "  custom "  as  will 
suffice  for  your  legitimate  ends.  In  competing  with  others 
for  public  favour,  no  expedient  should  be  permitted  that  will 
not  bear  close  examination.  Better  fail  of  success,  than  fall 
into  improper  rivalry.  Many  of  the  rumours  which  were 
circulated  about  the  Messrs.  Budgett  with  regard  to  the 
practice  of  selling  under  cost,  were  absurd,  and  contradicted 
themselves.  If  people  dealt  constantly  on  that  scale,  they 
must  some  time  show  the  effect. 

As  the  business  grew,  the  views  of  the  younger  brother 
began  to  stretch  beyond  their  actual  sphere.  He  already 
seemed  to  descry  in  the  distance  the  possibility  of  a  great 
wholesale  establishment ;  but  this  must  be  reached  by  little 
and  little.  He  would  not  attempt  what  he  could  not  accom- 
plish. Any  sudden  bound,  therefore,  by  which  he  was  at 
once  to  pass  the  gulf  now  separating  him  from  his  object, 
was  not  to  be  thought  of.  A  little  at  a  time ;  secure  what 
you  have,  work  it  well,  make  it  fruitful,  and  then  push  on  a 
little  farther ;  but  never  stretch  out  to  anything  n^w  till  all 


128  FIRST  JOURNEYS. 

the  old  is  perfectly  cultivated.  Such  were  the  maxims  he 
laid  down  for  himself;  such  the  maxims  which  he  enforced 
upon  his  travellers.  Under  the  guidance  of  these  rules,  his 
progress  from  the  retail  shop  up  to  the  great  establishment, 
was  not  to  be  made  by  brilliant  strokes,  and  venturesome 
speculations,  and  heavy  credits,  and  reliance  on  the  exchequer 
of  others.  He  was  willing  to  begin  humbly,  and  to  proceed 
slowly,  that  he  might  proceed  in  surety. 

Among  the  customers  of  the  shop  were  numbers  of  good 
women  who  came  from  villages  at  a  few  miles  distance, 
mounted  on  donkeys.  As  the  flow  of  purchasers  was  great, 
a  crowd  of  these  patient  steeds  would  often  be  for  a  long 
time  about  the  door,  while  their  respective  mistresses  were 
obtaining  goods.  In  this  concourse  from  a  distance,  the 
quick  eye  of  Samuel  discovered  the  germ  of  an  extended 
trade.  Why  should  he  not  go  into  their  neighbourhood 
regularly,  and  obtain  their  orders  ;  so  securing  their  custom 
always,  and  affording  them  accommodation,  while  he  ob- 
tained new  chances  of  extension  ?  His  brother  was  much 
more  inclined  to  pursue  the  regular  course  than  to  branch 
into  anything  new ;  and  the  caution  of  the  one  probably 
acted  as  a  useful  counterbalance  to  the  energy  of  the  other. 
But  Samuel  was  not  to  be  held  within  the  shop  walls ;  he 
had  his  plans  for  erecting  a  great  business,  and  no  power 
could  restrain  him.  He  soon  set  forth  to  the  villages  of 
Doynton  and  Pucklechurch,  and  arranged  to  meet  the  good 
folks  at  fixed  times,  in  one  house  or  another  convenient  for 
them,  and  there  to  receive  their  orders.  He  made  himself 
their  friend ;  he  was  hearty,  familiar,  and  in  earnest ;  he 
noticed  their  children ;  he  knew  their  ways,  and  he  rapidly 
gained  their  favour  and  effected  considerable  sales. 

This  point  gained,  he  began  to  talk  of  supplying  the 
smaller  shops.  "  Why  should  not  we  supply  them,  as  well 
as  other  people  ?  "  His  brother  shrank  from  anything  that 


SMALL  BEGINNINGS.  129 

seemed  to  approach  the  wholesale.  He  feared  that  they 
would  get  beyond  their  means,  and  wished  to  pursue  only 
the  old  course.  Samuel  could  wait,  but  he  could  not  sur- 
render. Supply  the  smaller  shops  he  would,  and  by  degrees 
he  managed  to  accomplish  it.  Very  gradually  the  range  of 
this  quasi-wholesale  trade  extended.  Firmly  keeping  to  his 
purpose  of  working  all  he  had  got,  and  going  on  little  by 
little,  he  made  no  abrupt  enterprise,  no  great  dash  ;  but  on, 
on  he  plodded  in  the  humblest  way,  caring  nothing  for  show, 
but  careful  that  every  foot  of  ground  under  him  was  solid. 
He  gradually  began  to  make  a  modest  sort  of  commercial 
journey  ;  and  among  tradesmen  to  whom  he  would  not  ven* 
ture  to  offer  the  higher  articles  of  grocery,  raised  a  consider- 
able trade  in  such  descriptions  of  goods  as  he  might  supply 
without  seeming  to  push  into  too  important  a  sphere. 

Well  would  it  be  for  our  modern  tradesmen  did  they 
generally  seek  advancement  only  on  such  sure  grounds. 
But,  instead  of  patiently  waiting  to  work  their  way  up  from 
an  inconsiderable  to  a  respectable  position,  they  are  eager 
to  start  on  a  large  scale,  to  make  a  show,  and  to  rival  their 
neighbours.  The  consequence  is,  an  untold  amount  of  un- 
happiness,  ill  health  and  sin.  Many  a  man  who  is  gasping 
for  life  in  trade,  might  have  been  pressing  on  at  his  ease  ; 
many  a  one  who  is  trying  to  keep  his  head  above  water  by 
seizing  any  friend  within  reach,  might  have  been  swimming 
cheerily ;  many  a  one  who  is  quailing  before  his  creditors, 
might  have  had  them  bowing  attendance  upon  him ;  many 
a  one  who  is  breaking  the  hearts  of  his  family,  might  have 
been  their  delight, — had  he  only  been  content  to  adjust  his 
scale  of  business  to  his  amount  of  capital.  But  when  a  man 
is  too  proud  to  suit  his  establishment  to  his  means,  he  must 
take  the  consequence.  If  you  build  half  of  your  house  on 
your  neighbour's  ground,  it  is  no  great  wonder  if  it  should 
be  pulled  down.  I  know  one  eminently  successful  trades- 
6* 


130  SHOW   IS  CO8TLT. 

man  who  ascribes  all  his  prosperity  to  the  fact  that  when,  at 
an  early  stage  of  his  course,  he  found  that  he  had  taken  on 
hand  more  business  than  he  could  manage  with  his  capital, 
and  embarrassment  was  imminent  merely  from  the  rapid 
extension  of  his  trade,  he  had  the  courage  to  curtail,  and 
decline  all  business  which  he  could  not  safely  manage. 
This  appeared  to  throw  him  back  for  the  time,  but  from 
that  day  his  feet  were  firm  under  him,  and  his  future  pro- 
gress was  solid. 

Half  of  the  heavy  hearts,  and  broken  spirits,  and  sleep- 
less eyes  among  London  tradesmen  might  be  spared,  wer« 
they  only  willing  to  conform  their  appearances  to  their  sub- 
stance. But  to  many  that  simple  advice  would  sound  as 
the  perfection  of  severity.  As  men  of  fashion  enlarge  their 
establishments  in  rivalry  with  wealthier  neighbours,  and 
thus  make  themselves  miserable  for  the  sake  of  show ;  so 
men  of  business  enlarge  their  establishments  to  rival  older 
and  wealthier  neighbours,  and  they  too  purchase  show  at 
the  price  of  misery.  Be  admonished  of  one  thing, — among 
all  articles  upon  earth  show  is  the  most  costly.  You  think 
the  public  will  pay  for  your  show ;  but  be  assured  if  you 
keep  up  a  show  you  will  pay  for  it  yourself,  and  that  with 
sighs,  broken  sleep,  indigestion,  bile,  headache,  irritability, 
with  blushes  before  your  friends  when  you  ask  for  "  a  little 
help,"  with  confusion  before  your  creditors  when  you  ask  for 
"  a  little  time ;  "  ay,  probably  you  will  pay  for  it  with  the 
loss  of  respect  before  those  in  your  employment,  with  the 
loss  of  credit,  the  loss  of  domestic  comfort,  the  loss  of  prin- 
ciple, with  the  crash  and  shattering  of  all  your  hopes  in  the 
noontide  of  life.  Do  then  fit  yourself  into  the  niche  which 
Providence  has  prepared  for  you.  Adapt  your  show  to  youi 
substance,  your  surface  to  your  groundwork.  1 1  a  v  a  small 
business  and  a  calm  breast,  rather  than  a  great  business  and 
weariness  of  heart.  Begin  lowly,  rise  slowly,  lay  out  nothing 


CIRCUMSTANCES   AND   APPEARANCES.  131 

for  show,  be  honest,  and  fear  God,  you  will  not  fail.  Per- 
haps, when  the  man  who  started  at  the  same  time,  and  quite 
eclipsed  you,  is  coming  down  with  a  crash,  you  will  be 
emerging  from  your  obscurity.  But  should  you  never  emerge, 
better  ten  thousand  times  to  be  all  your  life  on  good  terms 
with  your  circumstances,  than  to  be  perpetually  at  strife 
with  them.  Of  all  quarrels,  the  most  senseless,  the  most 
bootless,  the  most  worrying,  is  a  quarrel  with  your  circum- 
stances. You  may  as  well  be  wise  at  once  and  make  peace 
with  them.  Poor  circumstances  are  like  poor  relations ;  if 
you  try  to  deny  them  they  will  humble  you ;  if  you  take  to 
them  kindly  you  will  raise  them.  "  Circumstances  "  is  but 
a  name  for  the  lot  which  Providence  has  assigned  you  ;  and 
if  your  heart  is  right  with  God,  you  will  cheerfully  believe 
that  you  -are  rightly  and  wisely  placed,  and  will  be  content 
that  the  allotment  of  the  Divine  hand  should  be  known. 

"  But  so  much  depends  upon  a  respectable  commencement." 
Ah,  the  thousands  of  burthened  minds  which  are  wearying 
and  groaning  under  the  loads  first  imposed  by  that  fair  pre- 
tence !  Among  the  gods  of  the  world,  Respectability  is  a 
great  favourite.  He  competes  with  Mammon.  He  is  not  so 
coarse  :  his  worship  has  more  of  grace  to  win  the  eye.  His 
worshippers  abound  on  every  hand  j  yes,  and  he  even  sits 
proudly  in  the  temple  of  God,  receiving  for  his  sole  honour 
the  obeisance  of  many  a  brilliant  plume,  of  many  a  perfumed 
head,  which  bow  there  at  another  name  it  is  true,  but  which 
come  there  at  no  call  but  his,  and  which  seek  there  no  bless- 
ing but  his  approval.  He  is  a  fair-faced,  well  robed,  goodly 
idol,  with  winning  mien  and  imposing  adornments ;  his  pres- 
ence is  graced  with  all  that  is  ancient,  all  that  is  brilliant, 
all  that  kings  bestow  and  princes  covet ;  with  beauty  and 
wealth,  with  valour  and  genius.  Prosperity  seems  to  dwell 
in  his  temple  and  peace  to  dwell  at  her  side.  But  he  is  a 
cruel,  greedy  idol,  like  all  other  idols.  Those  brilliant  de- 


132  BEGINNINGS   AND   ENDINGS. 

votees  worship  in  chains ;  and,  day  by  day,  broken  fortunes, 
broken  families,  broken  promises,  broken  characters,  broken 
hearts,  are  heaped  in  hecatombs  upon  his  altar,  albeit  the 
blind  idolaters  say  that  these  offerings  are  welcomed  only  by 
his  ill-favoured  neighbour  Misfortune. 

Tradesmen,  as  a  class,  are  as  desperately  addicted  to  the 
worship  of  respectability  as  young  ladies.  To  place  themselves 
under  his  tutelage,  they  will  depart  from  that  humility  and 
honesty  without  which  they  cannot  hope  for  the  care  of  God. 
But,  as  to  the  care  of  God,  they  think  it  very  good  indeed  if  it 
could  be  had  upon  their  own  terms ;  but  to  come  down  to  their 
circumstances  and  only  attempt  such  an  amount  of  trade  as 
their  capital  can  match — that  would  be  humiliating,  and  they 
want  to  be  respectable.  Very  well,  then,  be  respectable,  and  be 
in  torment.  But  rely  upon  it,  that  if,  with  a  capital  of  five 
hundred  pounds,  you  undertake  a  trade  requiring  a  thousand, 
you  are  not  to  expect  that  a  Providence  who  is  wise  and 
just,  who  loves  candour,  humility,  and  straightforwardness, 
who  hates  pride,  show,  and  every  deceit,  will  ease  you  of  the 
load  which  you  take  upon  yourself  despite  of  his  counsel. 
Your  respectable  commencement,  indeed  !  That  is  respect 
able  which  is  honest  and  sensible.  The  reason  why  so  many 
are  no  better  after  years  of  toil  is  that  they  begin  too  high 
Had  Samuel  Budgett  resolved  that  he  would  not  compro- 
mise his  respectability,  but  would  at  once  sally  into  Batlr 
and  Bristol  as  a  wholesale  merchant,  instead  of  going  U 
Doynton  and  Pucklechurch,  and  humbly  working  on,  going 
just  a  step  at  a  time  and  guarding  it  well  when  gained,  in 
that  case  he  would  never  have  looked  upon  the  results  he 
lived  to  see.  He  began  where  he  ought  to  begin,  he  ended 
where  he  hoped  to  end.  He  went  first  to  Doynton  and 
Pucklechurch,  and  in  due  time  to  Bath  and  Bristol.  But  many 
of  you  are  resolved  to  begin  at  Bath  and  Bristol ;  then  most 
probably  you  will  end  at  Doynton  and  Pucklechurch.  The 


BEGINS   WHOLESALE   IN   EARNEST*  133 

same  good  advice  has  been  given  by  so  many  that  one  has 
little  heart  in  repeating  it ;  but  be  assured,  my  young  friend, 
that  it  is  not  from  indifference  to  your  feelings,  but  from  real 
interest  in  your  happiness,  that  we  advise  you  to  begin  at 
Doynton  and  Pucklechurch. 

In  process  of  time  success  invited  bolder  efforts.  They 
resolved  to  venture  on  offering  sugars  and  teas  to  the  re- 
spectable grocers  in  the  important  towns.  About  this  Jime 
they  had  succeeded  in  making  a  large  purchase  of  butter 
remarkably  cheap,  and  immediately  after,  it  rose.  Samuel 
therefore  felt  that  in  this  article  they  had  an  advantage,  and 
he  determined  to  try  his  fortune  in  a  higher  sphere.  He 
rode  to  Frome  and  applied  for  orders  at  the  chief  shops  of 
the  town.  His  reception  would  have  daunted  an  ordinary 
man.  They  were  much  affronted  that  a  shopkeeper  from  an 
out-of-the-way  village  like  Kingswood  should  offer  to  supply 
them  wholesale,  indeed !  They  said  very  uncivil  things. 
They  told  him  very  plainly  that  they  could  buy  quite  as 
well  as  he  could.  One  man,  after  hearing  him  open  his 
commission,  said, "  Well,  young  man,  and  where  do  you  come 
from  ?" 

"  Kingswood." 

"  Kingswood  !  I  dare  say  you  are  very  zealous,  but  yov 
had  better  go  back  to  Kingswood  and  mind  your  shop.  I 
dare  say  you  can  earn  bread  and  cheese  there,  but  you  had 
better  not  try  to  sell  us  goods  at  Frome." 

Another  gave  him  a  less  courteous  welcome  still,  and 
almost  ordered  him  out  of  the  shop.  Before  facing  these 
grocery  magnates,  his  heart  had  sunk  and  sunk  again ;  and 
in  entering  their  shops  he  was  almost  overcome  with  trepi- 
dation. But  he  only  wanted  this  rough  usage  to  bring  all 
his  energies  into  play.  His  spirit  gradually  rose  ;  at  last  he 
said,  "  Well,  I  am  come  here  to  do  business  and  I  will  do  it. 
If  I  cannot  do  it  with  you,  I  will  with  others.  1  have  tried 


134  FIRST  LARGE   ORDER. 

the  respectable  shops,  and  you  won't  look  at  me ;  I  will  sea 
what  they  will  say  in  the  little  shops  which  you  supply,  and 
you  shall  see  whether  I  can  serve  them  to  advantage  or  not." 
This  was  not  without  its  effect.  The  good  man,  who  proba- 
bly, in  spite  of  his  dignity,  had  been  struck  with  the  prices 
at  which  some  of  the  goods  were  offered,  said :  "  Well,  let 
me  see,  what  are  you  doing  those  butters  at  ?"  And  then 
he  ordered  ten  casks.  The  traveller  took  out  his  order 
book,  placed  it  on  the  counter  with  great  importance,  entered 
the  order,  restored  the  book  to  his  pocket,  buttoned  his  coat 
over  the  record  of  his  victory,  and  marched  out  of  the  door 
triumphant  as  a  plenipotentiary  who  has  obtained  the  cession 
of  a  province.  He  had  scarcely  gone  when  his  new  friend 
called  him  back. 

"  I  think  I  will  have  five  more  casks  of  those  butters." 
"  No,  I  have  taken  the  order  and  crossed  your  threshold, 
and  I  do  not  alter  the  order  after  it  is  taken."     Thus  show- 
ing his  independence  he  marched  forth  again. 

That  day  the  battle  for  a  real  wholesale  trade  was  begun 
and  one  advantage  gained.  But  he  saw  that  he  must  yet 
hope  for  his  chief  customers  among  the  small  dealers,  who 
were  overlooked  by  the  wholesale  houses  and  obtained  sup- 
plies from  their  neighbours,  who,  though  retail  dealers,  were 
so  on  an  extensive  scale.  Accordingly,  whenever  the 
larger  shops  refused  him,  he  addressed  himself  to  the 
minor  ones,  and  would  take  any  order,  however  small. 
A  regular  monthly  journey  was  organised.  On  his  next 
return  to  Frome  he  did  not  pass  one  of  the  men  who  had 
handled  him  so  roughly.  He  did  not  try  to  coax  and  jest 
them  into  dealing  with  him  ;  but  in  a  straightforward  inde- 
pendent way  told  them  his  prices  and  showed  how  it  would 
be  to  their  advantage.  By  degrees  he  made  his  way.  When 
he  had  got  one  customer  in  a  place  he  would  pay  compara- 
tively little  attention  to  others.  Sometimes  he  would  just 


OLD   CTJ8TOMEBS   AND  NEW.  135 

call,  quote  his  prices,  leave  a  sample,  and  pass  on  as  if  his 
time  was  too  valuable  to  spend  among  them.  In  other  cases 
he  would  not  call  at  all ;  and  I  have  been  told  of  one  case 
in  Trowbridge  where  a  respectable  tradesman,  seeing  the  at- 
tention he  paid  to  his  sole  customer  in  the  town,  told  him  to 
ask  Mr.  Budgett  to  call  upon  him.  In  other  cases,  again,  his 
heart  would  be  set  upon  a  certain  shop,  ind  there  he  would 
resolve  to  make  an  entrance  however  long  he  might  perse- 
vere. But  once  he  had  gained  a  customer  in  a  place,  that 
man  had  his  first  attention.  He  was  not  near  so  anxious  to 
gain  new  customers  as  to  serve  the  one  gained,  so  that  he 
would  really  find  it  to  his  interest  to  deal  with  them  con- 
stantly. His  travellers,  in  training  whom  he  took  great 
pains,  always  had  this  impressed  upon  them  as  their  prime 
lesson,  "  Gain  a  little  at  a  time,  and  take  care  of  what  you 
have  got."  Every  new  customer  he  represented  as  a  cottage. 
What  was  the  use,  he  would  say,  of  running  away  after  some- 
thing new  and  neglecting  the  cottage  you  had  ?  Attend  to 
it,  see  that  it  is  not  neglected,  that  it  does  not  go  to  decay ; 
and  when  you  have  it  in  a  thoroughly  good  condition  you 

may  get  another  cottage  if  you  can.  "  0,  Mr. ,  you  say 

you  have  some  new  customers  this  journey." 

"  Yes,  Sir." 

"  How  many  ?" 

"  Four." 

"  Four ;  ah  !  very  well,  very  well ;  but  are  you  sure  you 
don't  neglect  the  old  ?  Take  care  of  that,  you  must  mind 
what  you  have  got." 

It  soon  proved  that  not  a  few  of  his  customers  who  had 
been  small  and  inconsiderable  rose  swiftly.  The  energy  of  the 
new  house  at  Kingswood  seemed  to  some  extent  to  pervade 
its  connexion.  In  many  places,  the  respectable  shopkeepers, 
who  at  first  rejected  their  overtures,  saw  humbler  neighbours 
prospering  and  followed  in  their  train.  Some  of  the  very 


136  PROGRESS. 

men  who  had  shown  the  least  civility  were  afterwards  vain 
able  and  faithful  customers.  The  tide  of  prosperity  set  in 
fairly ;  and  Bristol  merchants,  who  had  looked  at  the  little 
shop  on  Kingswood  Hill  a  few  years  before  without  one  an- 
ticipation but  that  of  a  moderate  custom  from  its  owners,  now 
saw  it  expand  to  dimensions  that  threatened  to  dwarf  them- 
selves. 

Such  an  unheard-of  success  would  naturally  awaken  much 
wonder  and  much  enmity.  To  old  wholesale  houses  it  was 
offensive  to  see  a  shopkeeper  from  Kingswood,  of  all  places, 
enter  their  walks  and  attempt  to  measure  himself  with  them. 
That  violent  opposition,  that  rancours  and  rumours  assailed 
the  new  firm,  no  one  will  wonder.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  the  rancours  were  rendered  fiercer,  and  the  injurious 
rumours  more  credible,  by  the  exceeding  keenness  in  trade 
referred  to  at  length  in  a  former  chapter.  But  in  spite  of 
opposition,  in  spite  of  rumours,  in  spite  of  combinations  to 
destroy  their  credit,  in  spite  of  predicted  failure  and  lavish- 
ed accusations,  in  spite  of  the  unfavourable  locality,  of  the 
utter  want  of  prestige,  in  spite  of  the  active  rivalry  of  old 
wealthy  houses  in  a  great  city,  this  new,  anomalous  establish- 
ment gathered  and  grew  ;  the  retail  business  absorbing  the 
trade  of  Kingswood,  the  wholesale  business  gaining  clients 
from  all  the  neighbouring  districts.  Mr.  Budgett  soon  ceas- 
ed to  make  regular  journeys.  First  one  traveller  took  his 
place,  and  then  another  was  added.  The  connexion  rapidly 
extended :  purchases  which  had  been  in  parcels  soon  rose  to 
cargoes ;  sales  which  had  been  in  trifles  swelled  to  tons ; 
traveller  was  added  to  traveller,  journey  to  journey,  till  the 
connexion  covered  the  country  from  Penzance  to  Birming- 
ham, from  Haverfordwest  to  Wiltshire.  The  aspect  of  things 
at "  the  Hill"  changed ;  men  multiplied,  horses  multiplied,  the 
premises  grew.  From  the  port  at  Bristol  waggons  were  con- 
•tantly  rolling  with  goods  for  the  warehouse ;  from  the  ware- 


DIFFICULTIES.  137 

house  waggons  were  constantly  rolling  with  goods  to  the  port 
at  Bristol.  Neat  houses  for  the  clerks  sprang  up,  and  an  air 
of  prosperous  activity  overspread  the  neighbourhood. 

This  rise  was  probably  as  rapid  as  any  that  ever  occurred 
under  analogous  circumstances.  There  was  no  new  invention, 
no  introduction  of  a  strange  article,  no  caoutchouc,  no  Mori- 
son's  pills,  no  gutta  percha,  no  rails.  It  was  a  plain  homely 
business  expanded ;  and  that  not  in  a  great  city,  where  a 
commanding  centre  was  offered,  but  in  a  village  noted  for  iti 
rudeness,  and  so  situated  that  nearly  all  the  goods  had  to  be 
carried  four  miles  from  the  market  to  the  store,  and  carried 
back  again  four  miles  from  the  store  to  the  wharf  or  the 
carrier.  In  fact  they  had  no  one  advantage,  no  one  facility, 
and  had  against  them  every  possible  obstacle.  Yet  they 
went  on. 

But  this  progress  was  not  unaccompanied  by  struggles. 
They  had  not  at  the  first  a  large  capital.  Notwithstanding 
all  their  caution  to  secure  their  ground  under  them,  the  busi- 
ness had  grown  almost  more  rapidly  than  they  could  manage. 
Many  of  the  men  from  whom  they  purchased  were  jealous  of 
their  progress.  Not  a  few  efforts  were  made  to  bring  them 
to  a  stand.  Sometimes  it  went  hard  with  them.  On  one 
occasion  an  account  from  Bristol  was  sent  in  before  the 
usual  time.  It  was  at  once  paid.  Then  another,  then  ano- 
ther, and  so  on  with  rapidity ;  every  account  came  in  as  if  by 
concert.  Mr.  Budgett  saw  that  something  was  the  matter, 
and  resolved  that,  although  irregular,  all  should  be  met.  He 
made  those  prompt  exertions  among  his  friends  which  only 
men  of  his  energy  can  make.  When  the  last  account  was 
presented  he  knew  there  were  no  effects  in  the  bank,  but  he 
knew  that  he  had  means  to  put  in  a  deposit ;  he  therefore 
gave  a  cheque,  and  soon  afterwards  mounted  his  horse  and 
rode  hard.  As  he  entered  the  bank  at  one  door  the  bearer 
of  the  cheque  entered  at  another,  for  he  too  had  evidently 


138  EMBARRASSMENT   AND   TEMPTATION. 

been  in  haste  as  if  under  the  impression  that  payment  was 
doubtful.  The  battle  was  won ;  the  terrible  answer,  "  no 
effects,"  had  not  been  returned  ;  and,  now  they  were  free  to 
bless  that  Providence  which  had  enabled  them  to  turn  this 
Budden  attack  to  a  victory. 

But  now  that  the  danger  was  past,  it  became  necessary 
to  ask  how  it  had  arisen.  It  was  evident  that  some  com- 
mon impulse  must  have  led  to  this  run  upon  them.  Mr. 
Budgett  was  resolved  to  reach  the  source  of  the  assault. 
Going  to  a  respectable  firm  which  had  sent  in  an  account  be- 
fore the  regular  time,  he  demanded  the  reason,  and  would 
have  his  reply.  They  acknowledged  that  a  man  who  had 
lately  belonged  to  his  own  establishment,  had  warned  them 
to  look  after  their  account,  for  things  were  going  wrong.  It 
proved  that  the  same  individual  had  carried  this  statement 
round  all  the  houses  from  which  they  were  in  the  habit  of 
making  purchases.  He  had  just  been  discharged,  and  this 
was  his  remedy.  They  compelled  him  to  make  a  public 
apology.  This  was  not  the  only  time  a  similar  plot  was  di- 
rected against  them,  and  at  least  a  second  time  they  required 
a  public  apology  from  one  who  had  thus  attempted  to  under- 
mine them.  You  must  not  forget  the  case  detailed  above, 
as  that  man  will  appear  in  our  pages  again. 

The  day  of  embarrassment  is  the  tradesman's  day  of 
proof.  Then,  what  is  in  a  man  shows  .itself.  It  is  the  day 
of  temptation  too  ;  a  thousand  new  impulses  to  do  wrong 
arise  and  push  with  giant  power.  Directly  above  the  great 
cataract  of  insolvency  lie  most  dangerous  rapids.  Once 
there,  the  tide  hurrying  him  toward  ruin,  and  the  fall  close 
by, — resounding  as  with  the  powers  of  destruction  in  his 
ears, — the  tradesman's  conscience  runs  imminent  risk  of 
bewilderment.  Many  who  have  not  lied  before,  begin  to 
lie  then.  Many  who  have  not  cheated  before,  begin  to 
cheat  then.  Many  who  have  never  preyed  on  any  man, 


EMBARRASSMENT   AND   TEMPTATION.  139 

begin  then  to  look  around  for  a  victim.  Some  strange, 
confused,  irrational  hope  of  staving  off  the  evil  day,  of  post- 
poning the  shame,  beguiles  the  poor  debtor  into  fraud  after 
fraud,  into  folly  after  folly,  till,  at  the  day  of  exposure, 
inevitable  after  all,  his  father  has  to  mourn  over  a  son  not 
only  unhappy,  but  disreputable ;  his  wife  to  mourn  over  a 
husband  not  only  ruined,  but  disgraced  ;  his  children  to 
mourn  over  not  only  blighted  prospects,  but  a  tarnished 
name;  his  religious  connexions,  if  such  he  had,  to  mourn 
not  only  the  disaster  of  a  brother,  but  the  dishonour  of  the 
Christian  name. 

Ay,  the  day  when  ruin  impends  is  the  tradesman's  test- 
ing day.  To  be  suddenly  lifted  up  is  a  keen  test ;  one  un- 
der which  thousands  fail.  But  oh,  it  is  also  a  keen  test  to 
be  dragged  down,  down,  down ;  to  feel  ruin,  shame,  and  re- 
proaches coming;  to  feel  Hope,  driven  wild,  suggesting  a 
thousand  idle  plans  of  rescue  ;  and  all  nature  within  rising 
in  convulsive  protest  against  disgrace.  Take  care,  young 
man,  take  care  that  you  do  not  precipitate  yourself  into  that 
danger.  It  is  easy,  very  easy  for  you  to  say,  that  if  you 
found  things  going  wrong,  you  would  soon  see  whether  there 
was  a  possibility  of  working  them  right,  and  if  not,  you 
would  submit  to  misfortune  while  your  character  stood  clear, 
rather  than  protract  a  heartbreaking  struggle.  Ah  !  we  are 
all  wise  for  difficulties  that  have  never  crossed  us,  and  strong  for 
temptations  that  have  never  come.  But  you  are  just  as  liable 
as  another  to  be  gradually  seduced  from  integrity  to  shuffling. 
There  are  three  things  which  most  wonderfully  reduce  a 
man's  moral  strength, — hunger,  dependence,  and  debt.  He 
on  whose  principles  one  of  these  is  pressing,  is  like  a  man  of 
strong  limb  whose  heart  is  diseased;  he  carries  weakness 
within  him ;  you  know  not  the  moment  when  he  will  fall 
down.  I  tell  you  again,  that  if  you  run  deep  into  debt,  you 
are  just  like  a  man  in  the  rapids  above  a  waterfall ;  you  are 


140  BANKRUPTCY. 

drifting  and  struggling,  now  hoping  to  gain  a  foot-length, 
now  going  downward  ten  ;  drifting  and  struggling,  with  ruin 
below  and  rocks  around ;  drifting  and  struggling,  till  quite 
bewildered ;  and  casting  about  hither  and  thither,  scarce 
knowing  what  you  do,  you  at  last  grasp  a  friend  or  a  broth* 
er,  who  is  hurried  down  with  you,  sharing  your  disaster,  and 
doubling  your  remorse. 

Bankruptcy  is  a  woe  which  no  man  should  wantonly  pro- 
voke. He  that  has  once  descended  that  fall,  has  enough  to 
weigh  upon  his  heart  for  years.  True,  he  may  have  done  all 
which  vigilance  could  do  to  avert  the  evil ;  and  all  that  hon- 
eety  could  do  to  lighten  its  stroke  upon  others.  Yet  others 
have  suffered  by  confiding  in  him,  and  his  head  may  well  be 
held  downward.  It  is  no  credit  to  any  man  to  treat  a  fail- 
ure by  which  others  have  lost  severely,  as  if  it  were  only  a 
chance  of  trade,  about  which  he  need  not  trouble  himself 
"  It  is  no  sin  to  be  unfortunate."  Certainly  not ;  but  mark 
the  man  whose  failure  comes  by  misfortune  alone,  and  not  at 
all  by  fault.  Does  he  not  feel  his  miscarriage  ?  Is  not  his 
heart  bowed  down  ?  Does  he  not  bleed  at  the  core,  to  think 
that  he  has  been  the  occasion  of  loss  to  any  ?  He  who,  after 
a  failure,  is  brisk  and  consequential,  docs  make  one  imagine 
that  his  conscience  is  not  very  lively,  or  his  sense  of  honour 
high.  Some  men  seem  to  take  a  failure  quite  comfortably  ; 
they  stop,  and  go  on  again  ;  stop,  and  go  on  again,  without 
changing  their  style  of  living,  or  lowering  their  heads.  That 
is  a  feat  which  no  honest  man  can  admire.  He  by  whom 
others  suffer  ought  to  show  that  he  suffers  too.  And  then 
to  see  these  men  who  are  apt  to  break  down  in  the  counting- 
house,  come  forth  into  the  corporation,  the  election  commit- 
tee, the  vestry  meeting,  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  or  the  as- 
semblies of  some  religious  society,  and  prate  with  brave  brow 
as  if  wisdom  and  strength  were  with  them  I  Well,  the  man 
may  have  been  honest,  perhaps,  but  he  is  not  humble ;  he 


LEGAL   ABSOLTJTKHf.  141 

may  have  bad  no  fraud  in  him,  but  he  has  no  sense.  He 
who  is  habitually  unsuccessful  should  be  habitually  retiring. 
This  is  especially  the  case  with  men  who  profess  to  be  re- 
ligious. None  such  can  fail,  however  free  from  rightful 
blame,  without  causing  many  to  speak  evil  of  religion.  Who- 
ever, therefore,  has  been  overtaken  by  bankruptcy,  ought 
thenceforth  to  deport  himself  meekly,  as  one  through  whose 
suffering  (if  not  through  his  errors)  religion  has  suffered. 
He  ought  to  set  his  heart  upon  proving,  even  though  many 
years  should  be  necessary  to  prove  it,  that  no  man  lost  by 
any  fault  of  his.  True,  the  law  has  absolved  him  from  hig 
debts.  The  law  is  just  and  good.  It  is  well  that  when  a 
man  has  nothing  to  pay,  an  escape  should  be  afforded  to  him. 
But  no  law  can  alter  the  fact  that  men  have  trusted  him,  and 
been  disappointed ;  have  placed  property  in  his  hand,  and 
lost  it ;  that  he  has  promised,  and  never  performed ;  has 
borrowed,  and  never  paid.  It  is,  certainly,  right  to  have 
laws  which  free  the  helpless  from  the  relentless ;  but  no  law 
can  annul  the  obligation  of  him  who  has  promised,  to  perform 
(when  in  his  power),  of  him  who  has  borrowed,  to  pay.  An 
honest  tradesman  is  trudging  on  foot  from  his  little  house  at 
Dalston  into  the  city;  another  passes  him  in  a  sober,  respect- 
able carriage  and  pair.  The  pedestrian  remembers  that  this 
flourishing  merchant  once  failed,  and  he  lost  five  hundred 
pounds.  It  is  twenty  years  ago :  the  other  has  prospered, 
and  he  has  not.  Yet  it  is  very  natural  for  him  to  think  that 
it  would  have  been  more  honourable  to  pay  him  his  money 
than  to  set  up  a  carriage ;  he  might  have  had  an  honest  car- 
riage of  his  own,  had  it  not  been  for  the  check  that  loss  gave 
him. 

One  thing  which  materially  aided  the  Messrs.  Budgett 
in  their  upward  struggle  was  their  system  of  selling  for 
cash.  That  system  was  begun  at  the  outset,  and  main- 
tained throughout.  Customers  in  the  neighbourhood  paid 


143  CASH  PAYMENTS. 

for  all  purchases  immediately.  This  could  not  be  carried 
out  in  the  same  form  with  customers  at  a  distance.  When 
they  ordered  goods  they  could  not,  of  course,  pay  for  them 
till  they  had  been  received ;  and  that,  in  many  cases,  would 
be  days  after  the  order  was  given,  when  no  representative 
of  the  firm  was  on  the  spot.  But  a  plan  was  adopted  which 
came  as  near  to  prompt  payment  as  possible.  Each  cus- 
tomer was  waited  upon  by  a  traveller  once  in  four  weeks. 
Each  customer  knew  what  day  and  what  hour  to  expect  the 

visit     If  Mr.  S had  called  on  a  tradesman  in  Hereford 

on  Monday  at  ten  o'clock,  that   tradesman  would   expect 

Mr.  S four  weeks  after  on  Monday  at  ten  o'clock.     If 

he  had  given  Mr.  S an  order  on  his  former  visit,  the 

cash  would  be  expected  now ;  if  he  had  ordered  any  goods 
in  the  meantime  the  cash  for  them  also  would  be  expected 
now ;  so  that  up  to  this  moment,  Monday  at  ten  o'clock,  the 
account  would  stand  perfectly  clear.  If  the  tradesman  was 
not  at  home,  or  had  not  prepared  himself  with  his  cash,  the 
traveller  did  not  call  again  ;  and  no  order  was  taken  from 
one  who  had  not  discharged  his  account.  Mr.  Budgett  re- 
garded the  maintenance  of  these  rules  as  of  the  first  im- 
portance. He  would  at  any  time  lose  customers,  and  sacri- 
fice much  prospective  advantage,  rather  than  diverge  from 
them.  His  case  was  not  that  of  a  house  which  waits  till  it 
has  attained  a  commanding  name  for  one  particular  article, 
and  then  imposes  stricter  terms  of  payment  for  that  article. 
He  began  with  his  principle  when  he  had  everything  to 
gain.  He  fought  his  way  up  with  it,  even  though  he  found 
it  continually  blocking  up  his  path,  making  him  enemies, 
and  abridging  his  sales.  He  was  persuaded  of  its  excel- 
lence, and  by  it  he  would  stand.  Every  new  customer  was 
clearly  told  what  were  the  principles  of  the  house ;  every 
man  who  bought  did  so  with  the  clear  understanding  that 
he  was  not  to  pay  in  bills,  but  in  cash.  This  being  the 


STRICTNESS.  14:3 

case,  any  one  who  endeavoured  to  evade  the  rule  showed 
that  he  had  not  been  honest  in  the  previous  understanding. 
It  was  not  like  a  case  of  long  credit,  where  one  may  be 
utterly  deceived  in  his  expectations  from  one  term  to  ano- 
ther. Mr.  Budgett,  therefore,  felt  that  he  could  not  do  a 
customer  a  more  serious  injury  than  to  permit  him  to  trifle 
with  his  engagements.  He  had  known  precisely  on  what 
terms  he  received  the  goods,  and  if  it  proved  that  he  had 
not  been  candid,  then  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  indulgence  were 
a  bounty  on  fraud  and  an  encouragement  in  a  course  of  loose 
dealing  which  must  terminate  ruinously.  He  would  not 
tolerate  any  man  in  imposition  ;  and  he  considered  it  a  clear 
case  of  foul  play  when  a  man  concluded  a  bargain  on  certain 
well-understood  terms,  intending  to  evade  those  terms.  He 
was  willing  to  give  away  money  to  any  amount,  willing  to 
lend  to  any  amount,  willing  to  sacrifice  custom  to  any 
amount ;  but  he  would  not  be  imposed  upon ;  he  would  not 
trade  with  any  man  who  met  him  under  false  pretences  ;  he 
would  not  for  any  plea  relax  those  rules  of  business  which 
he  knew  to  be  right,  wise  and  good — good  even  for  the  man 
who  in  his  short-sightedness  would  rail  at  them  or  trifle  with 
them  ;  and  he  knew  that  if  these  rules  were  to  be  maintained 
at  all  they  must  be  maintained  invariably.  Many  thought 
it  was  hard  of  him  not  to  give  longer  credit.  He  would 
have  thought  it  as  great  an  unkindness  as  to  indulge  a  spoiled 
child  with  dainties  which  had  already  injured  his  health  and 
were  likely  to  destroy  it.  Many  who  bought,  and  had  imag- 
ined they  could  do  as -they  pleased  with  his  rules,  thought 
it  was  abominably  hard  to  hold  them  to  their  promises.  He 
would  have  looked  upon  indulgence  as  a  licensing  of  foul 
play,  and  as  destroying  their  only  chance  of  getting  upon  a 
solid  foundation  where  they  might  succeed  and  be  comfort- 
able. 

The  Rev.  B.  Carvosso,  who  knew  him  well,  and  saw 


144:  CREDIT  A  DECOY. 

clearly  the  originality  and  worth  of  his  character,  has  fur- 
nished me  with  many  valuable  glimpses  of  his  life,  both  in- 
ward and  outward.  On  the  point  now  in  hand,  he  says : — 

"  While  he  would  so  readily  give  away  thousands  of  gold 
and  silver  out  of  the  sale-room  and  counting-house,  ///  busi- 
ness he  was  rigid  about  pence  and  days.  A  man  in  small 
business,  his  neighbour,  had  dealt  with  him  contrary  to  rule. 
He  ordered  flour  at  the  end  of  the  twenty-eight  days — the 
period  of  credit — but  did  not  bring  the  amount  of  the  former 
order.  The  flour  was  in  the  waggon,  the  carter  on  the  way 
with  it.  The  mistake  was  discovered ;  a  messenger  was 
dispatched  with  orders  to  give  the  poor  man  one  sack  of 
flour,  bring  back  t/te  rest,  and  henceforth  cease  to  do  busi- 
ness with  him  !  To  maintain  a  small  business  principle  he 
would  readily  submit  to  an  astonishing  pecuniary  loss." 

Had  his  poor  neighbour  gone  to  him  and  told  him  he 
was  in  difficulties,  doubtless  he  would  have  found  a  ready 
friend.  But,  instead  of  taking  that  honest  course,  he  tries 
by  a  trick  to  obtain  goods.  That  must  be  stopped,  and 
is  stopped  at  once  ;  yet  stopped  in  a  way  which  shows  that 
the  fear  of  the  little  pecuniary  loss  which  might  be  involved 
in  this  case  was  not  the  motive  for  decision,  but  the  prin- 
ciple of  adhering  to  the  rules  of  the  establishment  and  of 
checking  unfair  dealing  in  their  customers.  To  him  none 
of  his  business  principles  were  "  small,"  nor  were  they  to  any 
who  had  learned  from  him  their  real  bearing  on  the  course 
of  trade.  Respecting  a  cash  commerce  instead  of  a  credit 
commerce  his  views  were  large  and  his  convictions  deep. 
He  saw  many  a  family  wrecked  under  his  eye,  who  had  been 
tempted  by  credit  into  a  trade  to  which  their  means  were 
inadequate.  He  saw  men  suddenly  reduced  from  prosperous 
ease  to  struggling  embarrassment,  just  by  a  few  return  bills. 
They  had  industry,  tact,  and  a  growing  connexion  ;  yet,  be- 
cause a  few  large  customers  have  deceived  them,  their  lawful 


HOLLAND  AND  FRANCE.  145 

profit  for  years  of  toil  is  swept  away.  He  saw,  when  one 
such  house  fell,  a  whole  circle  of  families  shattered  by  the 
stroke ;  another  circle  of  families,  linked  with  the  former 
shattered  too  ;  then  another  circle  and  another,  of  fami- 
lies which  had  known  wealth  and  honour,  dashed  down 
to  want  and  shame,  till  the  whole  country  was  startled  with 
the  noise  of  ruin.  Witnessing  scenes  like  this,  no  wonder 
that  he  wrote  it  on  his  heart,  that  the  system  of  credit 
was  a  system  of  curses ;  no  wonder  that  in  every  establish- 
ment erected  on  a  foundation  of  cash  payments,  he  saw  a 
conquest  from  chaos  and  a  step  towards  puplic  repose ;  no 
wonder  that  in  every  facility  to  incur  debts,  he  saw  a  decoy 
and  a  pitfall ;  no  wonder  that  the  ambition  to  set  an  ex- 
ample of  success  on'  a  system  of  cash  payments  was  strong 
within  him,  that  he  viewed  it  as  a  deed  of  right  service- 
able patriotism, — a  thankless,  but  most  substantial  offering 
to  mankind. 

The  modern  history  of  Europe,  apart  from  all  other 
branches  of  experience,  abundantly  testifies  to  the  value  of 
Mr.  Budgett's  favourite  principle.  All  nations  have  not 
been  so  reckless  as  our  own  and  our  American  cousins  ;  and 
well  for  them  in  the  days  of  their  trial  that  they  have  not. 
An  able  writer  on  commerce  states  : — 

"  If  we  begin  with  Holland,  we  find  that  bargains  in 
that  country  were,  in  its  better  days,  almost  always  made 
for  ready  money,  or  for  so  short  a  date  as  six  weeks  or  two 
months.  Profits  were  small  in  their  ratio,  but  the  quickness 
of  returns  made  them  eventually  large.  Failures  were  rare, 
even  in  so  distressing  an  era  as  the  occupation  of  their 
country  by  the  French,  which  began  in  1 795,  and  involved 
from  the  outset  a  stoppage  of  maritime  intercourse  with  all 
their  possessions  in  India  and  America.  The  consequence 
of  this  stoppage  was  a  decay  of  trade,  a  suspension  of  vari- 
ous undertakings,  a  scarcity  of  work,  a  miserable  dulnes*  in 
7 


146  RETURN   BILLS. 

the  '  sale  of  goods.' — all  leading,  in  the  first  instance  to  di- 
minish  income,  and  eventually  to  encroachment  on  capital. 
But  amidst  this  distress  the  failures  were  surprisingly  few,— 
fewer,  indeed,  than  occur  in  Britain  in  any  ordinary  season. 
Another  example,  equally  replete  with  instruction,  was  the 
state  of  France  after  the  double  invasion  of  1814  and  1815. 
There  prevailed  at  that  time  a  general  discouragement 
among  the  upper  ranks,  and  a  great  deal  of  wretchedness 
among  the  lower,  trade  being  at  a  stand,  and  stocks  of  goods 
lying  unsold  in  shops  or  warehouses  for  years  ;  still  bank- 
ruptcy was  exceedingly  rare.  All  this  shows  what  a  satis- 
factory prospect  we  may  anticipate,  when  we  adopt  the  plan 
of  transacting  the  greater  part  of  our  business  for  ready 
money." 

When  we  contrast  these  instances  of  comparative  security 
amid  the  most  frightful  national  convulsions,  with  what  we 
have  all  seen  of  the  terrible  panic-times  which  overtake  us 
every  now  and  then  in  the  midst  of  national  tranquillity,  it 
it)  quite  enough  to  drive  every  man  who  hates  all  things 
which  breed  wretchedness,  to  rise  against  the  debtor  and 
creditor  system  with  downright  animosity.  Were  we  to  be 
invaded,  were  we  to  have  a  revolution,  were  any  such  disas- 
ter to  befall  our  nation  as  has  befallen  others,  who  can  pla- 
cidly contemplate  the  ruin  which  would  accrue  in  every  town 
throughout  the  country? 

One  of  your  great  men  of  the  city,  one  who  has  figured 
in  some  of  the  most  famous  of  its  financial  feats,  one  who 
lived  and  died  worth  his  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands, 
was  at  the  fireside  of  a  friend  when  a  cheerful  little  girl  was 
bidding  good  night ;  "  Ah  !"  exclaimed  the  man  of  stores  and 
cares,  "  she  has  got  no  return  bills  to  think  upon."  He  did 
not  expect  to  go  to  sleep  so  blithely  ;  there  was  a  load  upon 
his  heart — return  bills  to  be  sure.  And  of  those  well 
dressed,  well-looking,  intelligent,  energetic  men,  who  teem 


RETURN   BILU8.  14:7 

towards  all  the  metropolitan  termini  between  four  and  five 
o'clock  every  afternoon,  in  hot  haste  from  the  city,  not  a  few 
are  carrying  upon  their  hearts  that  same  dull  load,  return 
bills.  Many  when  they  come  home,  instead  of  enjoying 
their  leisure  hour,  are  smarting  under  the  harass  of  re- 
turn bills ;  many  a  one,  when  he  asks  his  daughter  to  play 
and  sing,  is  only  seeking  relief  from  the  necessity  of  talking 
that  he  may  muse  at  leisure  on  his  return  bills.  Many  a 
one  who  goes  out  to  spend  the  evening,  wishes  the  party  was 
at  Nova  Zembla,  for  his  head  is  pestered  with  return  bills. 
Many  a  one,  when  a  friend  calls  to  spend  an  hour,  wishes  he 
was  at  the  antipodes,  for  he  has  enough  to  think  about  with 
his  return  bills.  Many  a  one  who  dances  because  he  has 
promised  to  be  at  the  ball,  seems  at  every  step  to  awake  a 
rustling  of  return  bills.  Many  a  man  who  has  his  eye  seem- 
ingly upon  a  book,  is  studying  the  unloveable  literature  of 
return  bills.  Many  a  one  who  is  wont  to  go  to  the  week- 
evening  service,  and  there  to  find  one  hour  of  spiritual  quiet 
amid  a  week  of  worldly  din,  can  hardly  bring  himself  to  go, 
his  thoughts  are  so  harassed  by  those  return  bills.  Many 
a  man  who  is  in  his  pew  on  Sunday,  hears  neither  prayer, 
nor  hymn,  nor  sermon ;  his  poor  lorn  mind  is  chased  round 
dingy  counting-houses  haunted  by  return  bills.  Of  old 
times,  ghosts,  fairies,  brownies,  witches,  and  such  tribulations 
were  familiar  to  all  men  in  their  struggles.  These  have  dis- 
appeared ;  but  our  counting-houses  have  a  new  race  of  reven- 
ants, — bills,  which  were  seen  out  of  the  world  and  were 
counted  as  dead,  suddenly  reappear  and  must  be  laid  before 
there  can  be  peace.  Not  a  day  passes  over  us  but  these 
modern  goblins  strike  a  deadly  chill  to  some  hearts,  sour 
tempers,  spoil  appetites,  render  husbands  unwilling  to  tell 
all  at  home,  fathers  pensive  as  their  children  laugh,  masters 
irritable  ;  make  the  peevish  scold,  the  wicked  swear,  and  the 
good  man  lift  up  his  heart  to  God  with  the  prayer  men  pray 


14:8  PAPER  "HOUSES." 

in  time  of  trouble.  What  a  leak  is  at  sea,  what  a  mine  is 
under  a  fort,  what  a  heart  disease  is  in  the  frame, — that  is 
the  system  of  bill-bubble  in  trade.  And  yet  sensible,  sol- 
vent men,  with  homes  to  cheer  and  a  country  to  serve,  will 
go  on  encouraging  and  prastising  that  preposterous  torment. 

One  has  seen  children  build  up  a  little  fabric  of  card- 
board and  call  it  a  house,  and  keep  it  up  as  long  as  they 
could  ;  but  down  it  came  soon,  and  they  did  not  take  it  to 
heart.  But  it  is  quite  another  sight  to  see  men,  not  chil- 
dren, build  up  a  structure  of  paper  and  then  call  it  "  a 
house  ;"  not  a  plaything  house,  but  a  serious  house  for  peo- 
ple to  buy  and  sell  in,  and  to  trust  to  for  a  shelter  from  the 
tempests  of  misfortune ;  to  see  them  rear  a  whole  row  of 
these  paper  li  houses,"  build  one  on  the  end  of  another,  so 
that  if  one  fall  all  fall,  and  seriously  persuading  themselves, 
and  their  wives  and  children,  that  these  make-believe  sheds 
are  "  houses  "  to  spend  their  lives  in.  It  is  a  quaint,  half 
lunatic  sort  of  exhibition ;  but  it  mingles  the  sad  with  the 
comical,  when  some  jolt  capsises  one  of  the  paper  piles,  and 
down  rustles  the  whole  row  ;  while  the  builders,  unlike  the 
children  who  counted  on  the  tumbling  of  their  structure, 
take  it  mightily  to  heart  and  are  in  anguish. 

John  Bull  and  Jonathan  between  them  have  a  very  mis- 
chievous propensity  to  set  up  these  paper  "  houses  "  and  de- 
lude people  into  trusting  them.  They  have  over  and  over 
again  seen  what  a  shocking  sort  of  game  it  is,  and  how  misery 
and  wretchedness  come  out  of  it ;  but  all  in  vain, — they  go 
on,  and  are  likely  to  do  so,  in  spite  of  any  little  sorrow  we 
may  utter  here  upon  the  subject.  Which  of  the  two  is 
worse  it  is  hard  to  say,  though  John  lays  great  blamo  on 
Jonathan  and  says  he  builds  his  houses  far  higher,  putting 
on  six  or  even  nine  stories,  which  John  thinks  quite  too 
much.  But  it  is  no  business  of  ours  to  arbitrate  between 
them ;  they  are  both  foolish  and  mischievous ;  which  is  the 


GOOD   DEBTS   AND  BAD.  149 

more  so  is  little  matter.  But  they  had  better,  both  of  them, 
take  warning  in  time  and  cease  to  play  at  hazard,  laying  the 
happiness  of  families  and  the  equanimity  of  nations  as  the 
stake. 

The  new  merchants  who  rose  so  rapidly,  and  to  their  neigh- 
bours so  unaccountably,  at  Kingswood  Hill,  were  never 
haunted  with  return  bills.  They  were  never  travelling  in  the 
dark,  liable  suddenly  to  meet  an  apparition  that  would  block 
up  their  way.  They  always  knew  where  they  were  and 
whither  they  were  going.  They  had  not  looked  upon  a  hun- 
dred pounds  as  paid,  when  it  turned  out  that  they  had  it  to 
pay.  They  had  not  to  sacrifice  the  profits  made  by  fifty 
honest  men  to  cover  the  loss  made  by  one  rogue.  They  had 
not  to  look  to  fifty  sensible  men  to  pay  a  loss  occasioned  by 
one  fool.  They  had  not  to  ponder  which  were  safe  bills 
and  which  were  risky  ones ;  they  had  no  bills  at  all.  They 
had  not  to  study  what  were  good  debts  and  what  bad 
debts;  they  had  no  debts  at  all.  Vast  as  their  transac- 
tions were,  a  petty  loss  of  forty  or  fifty  pounds  was  quite 
an  event,  a  crisis  which  set  the  whole  staff  in  motion  as  if 
their  honour  were  tarnished. 

It  is  one  distinctive  beauty  of  the  credit  system  that 
honest  men  have  to  pay  for  the  articles  bought  by  rogues, 
and  wise  men  for  the  articles  bought  by  fools.  The  mer- 
chant, of  course,  must  make  a  profit  on  the  whole,  and  he 
has  no  alternative  but  to  charge  John  and  Thomas  for  the 
coat  which  Horatio  bought  and  did  not  pay  for.  I  confess 
it  seems  to  me,  that  John  and  Thomas  had  better  not  be 
taxed  thus.  If  Horatio  needs  a  coat  provided  by  other 
people,  he  had  better  say  so  and  come  by  it  honestly,  rather 
than  steal  a  piece  by  aid  of  the  merchant  from  one  neigh- 
bour and  another,  and  so  make  up  a  fine  garment  at  their 
expense.  John  and  Thomas  are  very  much  wronged,  and  I 
defy  the  merchant  to  prove  that  he  is.  not  the  accomplice  of 
Horatio  in  defrauding  them. 


150  CASH   AND  COMFORT. 

The  advantage  of  a  trade  based  on  cash  instead  of  on 
credit  to  the  comfort  and  morality  of  the  nation  is  incalcu- 
lable. Credit  does  occasionally  enable  a  man  of  energy  to 
take  a  position  he  could  not  else  have  taken  ;  but  for  one  to 
whom  it  proves  a  substantial  benefit,  it  allures  thousands  to 
uninterrupted  trouble,  and  a  whole  spawn  of  unfair  prac- 
tices owe  their  existence  to  it  alone.  The  credit  system 
ought  to  be  exploded.  Men  ought  to  be  trained  to  place 
themselves  in  accord  with  their  circumstances,  to  overcome 
difficulties  not  by  artifice  but  by  labour.  Families  ought 
not  to  be  exposed  to  live  in  uncertainty  as  to  whether  the 
bread  they  eat  is  their  own.  The  honest  and  the  apt  should 
not  be  mulcted  to  the  amount  of  the  frauds  and  waste  of 
those  who  reject  principle  or  lack  sense.  The  commerce  of 
the  nation  ought  not  to  rest  on  a  hollow  foundation,  exposed 
at  every  pressure  or  collapse.  It  was  one  of  Mr.  Budgett's 
leading  desires  that  the  example  of  their  firm  might  induce 
many  to  place  their  trade  on  a  firm  footing,  and  thus  the  na- 
tional stability  and  happiness  would  be  advanced.  This 
was  his  work  of  patriotism,  and  a  more  valuable  service  he 
could  not  have  done  to  the  state  ;  much  better  than  if  he 
had  been  a  great  speaker  at  corporation  meetings,  and  a  great 
man  among  the  legislators  of  his  own  circle.  A  more  con- 
slusive  proof  that  success  is  possible  on  a  system  virtually 
of  cash  payment,  could  not  be  afforded  than  that  found  in 
his  own  case.  You  may  talk  of  impossibility  as  you  please, 
but  no  impossibility  can  confront  you  which  did  not  confront 
them.  Yet,  without  making  friends  by  giving  ':  liberal 
terms,"  constantly  losing  friends  by  enforcing  cash,  often 
turning  a  customer  into  an  enemy,  often  sending  away  large 
offers  of  trade ;  by  fidelity  to  a  sound  principle  and  to  the 
advantages  which  it  offered  equally  to  merchant  and  to  cus- 
tomer, a  little  village  trade  in  the  hands  of  men  without  in- 
fluence or  wealth,  was  raised  against  most  powerful  opposi- 


STOCK-TAKING.  151 

tion  to  great  extent  and  profit.  The  thing  has  been  done : 
therefore  it  can  be  done  again. 

To  a  tradesman,  stock-taking  is  always  an  exciting  time. 
According  to  the  state  of  his  heart,  he  receives  the  favour- 
able or  unfavourable  result ;  the  sorrow  of  the  world  which 
worketh  death,  the  bitter  pining  over  money  lost  and  toil  ill 
spent,  the  impatience  of  life  and  the  distaste  for  action,  the 
meek  submission  to  a  Father's  chastising  hand,  the  close 
searching  of  heart  to  see  where  the  rod  has  been  provoked, 
the  tranquil  joy  in  acknowledging  a  fruitful  blessing,  the 
godly  fear  lest  growing  wealth  should  bring  with  it  pride, 
the  turbulent  delight  at  plenty  of  gain,  the  boastful  self- 
laudation  on  talent  and  power,  the  malign  triumph  over 
rival  houses, — all  these  feelings,  and  a  thousand  more,  are 
raised  yearly  in  the  breasts  of  our  busy  neighbours  when 
they  learn  how  much  they  have  lost  or  won.  One  of  the 
oldest  servants  in  the  establishment  of  the  Messrs.  Budgett, 
one  who  saw  it  rise  and  grow,  told  me  that,  as  his  station 
lay  immediately  above  the  private  counting  house,  he  found 
that  year  by  year,  as  soon  as  the  brothers  had  struck  the 
balance,  they  retired  into  an  inner  office,  and  there  kneeling 
down  before  the  Lord  of  all,  acknowledged  His  allotment  of 
success  or  of  failure,  giving  thanks  or  presenting  humiliation 
as  the  case  might  dictate. 

As  they  advanced  Samuel  bought  the  ground  in  which 
lay  the  old  quarry,  wherewith  you  are  already  familiar. 
Here  he  built  a  substantial  house,  which,  with  alterations, 
was  his  abode  to  the  end.  His  friend  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Wood  was  standing  with  him  in  his  new  home,  the  monu- 
ment of  past  success  and  of  expected  abundance.  On  look- 
ing out  in  front,  the  eye  caught  sight  of  the  parish  work- 
house beyond  the  garden ;  on  looking  out  behind,  it  rested 
on  the  tombstones  of  a  cemetery.  Mr.  Wood  said  to  his 
prosperous  friend,  "  You  have  something  here  to  admonish 


152  THE   CASK   OF   P.  D. 

you.  In  front  you  have  the  workhouse  to  which  you  mag 
come  ;  behind  is  the  graveyard  to  which  you  must  come." 
Ah  !  it  were  well  for  all  of  you  who  are  growing  rich  fast, 
had  you  at  hand  some  honest  friend  to  tell  you  now  and  then 
a  useful  truth ;  but  would  you  receive  such  homely  words 
in  a  spirit  of  cordiality  and  gratitude  ?  Samuel  Budgett 
did.  And  you,  ministers,  would  you  all,  with  an  acquaint- 
ance so  rapidly  acquiring  wealth  and  importance,  venture  to 
go  so  close  ?  If  you  have  some  of  that  class  in  your  flock, 
do  give  them  now  and  then  a  faithful  word ;  they  need  it, 
poor  men,  if  any  upon  earth  do. 

We  have  just,  once  more,  named  the  old  quarry  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  his  boyish  meditations.  This  recalls 
a  circumstance  of  which  it  was  also  the  scene  during  the 
progress  of  the  rise.  Grocers  have  never  enjoyed  an  imma- 
culate reputation  in  the  matter  of  adulterating  goods.  Not 
a  few  of  their  most  costly  wares  are  capable  of  easy  mixture. 
Conscience  is  generally  trained  to  the  posture  habitual  to 
the  trade.  Of  course  the  grocer  has  exceedingly  good 
reasons  for  his  apprentices,  why  they  should  adulterate. 
Yet  if  he  went  to  the  draper  and  found  that  for  linen  he  had 
bought  a  mixture  of  cotton  and  flax,  he  would  call  the  dra- 
per a  cheat.  Or  if  he  found  that  the  silversmith  had  sold 
him  plated  spoons  for  silver  spoons,  he  would  call  him  a 
cheat.  It  is  only,  you  see,  in  his  own  line  of  business  that 
such  strong  reasons  exist  for  doing  a  little  deception.  In 
Mr.  Budgett's  early  days,  pepper  was  under  a  heavy  tax ; 
and  in  the  trade,  universal  tradition  said  that  out  of  the 
trade  everybody  expected  pepper  to  be  mixed.  In  the  shop 
stood  a  cask  labelled  P.  D.,  containing  something  very  like 
pepper  dust,  wherewith  it  was  usual  to  mix  the  pepper  be- 
fore sending  it  forth  to  serve  the  public.  The  trade  tradi- 
tion had  obtained  for  the  apocryphal  P.  D.  a  place  amongst 
the  standard  articles  of  the  shop,  and  on  the  strength  of  that 


p.  D.  153 

tradition  it  was  vended  for  pepper  by  men  who  thought  they 
were  honest.  But  as  Samuel  went  forward  in  life  his  ideas 
on  trade-morality  grew  clearer.  This  P.  D.  began  to  give 
him  much  discomfort.  He  thought  upon  it  till  he  was  satis- 
fied that,  when  all  that  could  be  said  was  weighed,  the  thing 
was  wrong.  Arrived  at  this  conclusion,  he  felt  that  no 
blessing  could  be  upon  the  place  while  it"  was  there.  He 
instantly  decreed  that  P.  D.  should  perish.  It  was  night ; 
but  back  he  went  to  the  shop,  took  the  hypocritical  cask, 
carried  it  forth  to  the  quarry,  then  staved  it  and  scattered 
P.  D.  among  the  clods  and  slag  and  stones.  He  returned 
with  a  light  heart.  But  he  recollected  that  he  had  left  the 
staves  of  the  cask  in  the  quarry  ;  and  as  there  was  no  need 
to  let  them  go  to  waste,  his  first  act  in  the  morning  was  to 
return  and  gather  them  up. 

Now,  ye  busy  shopmen,  and  ye,  more  lordly  merchants, 
say,  before  the  only  witness  who  beheld  that  act  under  the 
night  heaven,  have  you  no  P.  D.  which  ought  to  be  scattered 
before  you  go  to  sleep  ?  Your  thought  turns  towards  some- 
thing ;  you  were  taught  it ;  men  worthy  in  their  way  justify 
it ;  you  are  able  to  laugh  others  out  of  their  scruples  about 
it ;  you  argue  with  yourself  till  it  appears  "  fair  enough  ;" 
but  do  for  once  just  go  to  your  private  room,  and  sit  down 
and  think.  Be  rational  for  a  moment  or  two  ;  do  not  refuse 
to  converse  alone  with  your  conscience  and  your  God ;  ay, 
go  down  upon  your  knees  and  pray  for  light,  for  it  is  no 
small  matter  to  be  doing  wrong.  You  may  smile  at  it,  you 
may  gloss  it  over,  you  may  "  pooh-pooh  "  warning ;  but  wrong 
is  wrong,  and  there  is  a  Judge  above  us ;  wrong  is  wrong, 
and  it  will  find  you  out.  Be  sure  this  world  is  not  a  lawless 
common,  where  all  who  can  may  plunder  and  go  harmless  : 
it  is  a  kingdom  with  a  strong,  just  King,  whose  laws  cannot 
be  broken  without  bringing  punishment  on  the  offender. 

This  world  of  ours  contains  a  great  deal  of  P.  D.  Tho 
7* 


154  p.  D. 

ship-owner  has  a  ship  which  has  become  too  old  to  carry 
sugar  from  the  West  Indies  without  damaging  it ;  so  he  fits 
her  out  as  a  passenger  ship,  and  advertises  her  for  Sydney 
as  the  "  well-known,  favourite,  fast-sailing  ship  ;"  and  that  ia 
P.  D.  The  corn  merchant  has  a  cargo  damaged  in  a  gale 
at  sea ;  but  as  the  underwriters  will  not  pay  unless  the  cap- 
tain can  swear  that  the  vessel  struck,  the  merchant,  who  was 
snug  in  his  bed  when  the  gale  blew,  tries  to  show  the  cap- 
tain that,  just  off  Flamborough  Head,  the  keel  did  actually 
touch  the  ground,  and  that  therefore  he  may  safely  take  the 
requisite  oath ;  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  private  banker  who 
feels  that  he  is  sinking,  takes  a  finer  house,  starts  an  addi- 
tional carriage,  and  sets  up  for  a  member  of  Parliament,  that 
people  may  think  he  scarcely  knows  what  to  do  with  his 
money ;  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  director  of  a  joint-stock 
bank  who  sees  that  the  concern  is  hollow,  sells  out  his  own 
shares,  but  retains  his  place  till  the  three  years  during  which 
he  is  liable  are  past,  that  no  one  else  may  take  fright ;  and 
that  is  P.  D.  The  shareholder  gets  up  a  rumour  that  the 
Petty-borough  railway  is  going  to  be  amalgamated  with  the 
Great  Central  line ;  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  warehouseman 
is  standing  by  a  parcel  of  goods  which  have  been  on  his 
hands  for  some  weeks ;  a  customer  enters  and  is  received 
with  smiles.  "Are  these  new?"  "The  latest  things  we 
have — just  out ;  in  fact  I  almost  thought  you  would  look  in 
to-day,  and  have  this  moment  had  the  parcel  opened  for 
you;"  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  glove  seller  is  asked  for 
Dent's  gloves,  and  produces  you  an  article  which  never 
passed  through  Dent's  bands,  or  cost  Dent's  price.  "  These 
are  not  Dent's."  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  they  are  Dent's  best ; 
I  bought  them  there  myself;"  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  pro- 
vision merchant  finds  that  Cork  butters  of  No.  II.  brand 
"open"  well,  and  changes  the  brand  to  No.  I.  ;  and  that  ia 
P.  D.  A  dealer  selling  to  a  man  he  knows  to  be  "  shakey," 


p.  D.  155 

makes  a  mistake  on  purpose,  so  that  the  debt  seems  larger 
than  it  really  is ;  if,  therefore,  he  must  take  a  dividend,  he 
will  have  it  on  more  pounds  than  are  due  to  him  ;  and  that 
is  P.  D.  If  you  go  on  you  will  be  astonished  how  P.  D.  is 
in  most  places.  In  fact,  if  some  just  power  were  to-night  to 
take  all  the  P.  D.  casks  in  this  great  shop  we  call  the  world, 
and  stave  them  in,  scattering  the  deceitful  contents  to  the 
wind,  there  would  be  such  a  confusion  to-morrow  morning 
that  the  whole  shop  would  have  to  be  re-arranged. 

Your  business,  just  now,  is  to  search  out  P.  D.  under 
your  own  roof,  and  be  sure  you  do  not  let  it  pass  the  night 
there.  Out  with  it,  a  curse  is  in  it.  Stave  the  cask  in 
pieces.  Scatter  the  cheat  to  the  night  winds.  Let  the  eye 
of  heaven  which  is  looking  down  behold  its  dispersion. 
Then  go  and  crave  pardon  for  all  the  acts  in  the  past  where- 
in you  have  touched,  tasted,  or  handled  the  -unclean  thing. 
Do  not  mock  the  Almighty  by  asking  pardon  for  the  sin  of 
to-day,  when  you  are  holding  the  same  sin  in  your  right 
hand  for  repetition  to-morrow.  Pardon  for  the  past  is  freely 
offered ;  but  think  not  that  God  will  forgive  sins  you  will 
not  forsake.  What  would  you  think  of  a  father  who  would 
forgive  a  son  for  cheating  his  neighbour  when  he  was  con- 
tinuing to  cheat,  and  who  would  not  immoveably  refuse  his 
favour  unless  the  cheat  were  discontinued  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible repaired  ?  And  do  you  imagine  that  the  great  holy 
Father  above  will  own  for  a  child  of  his  any  man  that  tricks, 
defrauds,  or  lies  ?  If  with  a  penitent  heart  you  turn  from 
your  evil  ways,.  He  is  merciful  to  forgive  you ;  but  woe  to 
you  and  woe  to  all  of  us  were  He  so  cruel  a  ruler  as  to  be 
at  peace  with  the  unjust.  No,  no ;  the  righteous  God  loveth 
righteousness.  As  you  are  guilty,  you  feel  it  is  terrible  to 
believe  this.  But  it  shuts  the  door  of  hope  only  on  the  path 
of  transgression ;  it  leaves  the  path  of  repentance  open,  and 


156  A   HYPOCRITE. 

into  that,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  invites  you,  with  a  tender 
effusion  of  love  and  a  royal  promise  of  mercy. 

This  fact  respecting  P.  D.  reminds  me  of  another.  A  few 
years  before  Mr.  Budgett's  death,  a  person  came  to  him  stat- 
ing himself  to  be  a  Wcsleyan  and  a  local  preacher,  and  offer- 
ing to  disclose  an  invention  which  would  be  an  immense  sav- 
ing to  Mr.  Budgett  in  ais  extensive  business.  He  received 
him  and  heard  his  explanations.  It  proved  that  he  had  a 
plan  for  making  mock  vinegar  which  cost  hardly  anything 
and  might  be  sold  for  real.  Mr.  Budgett  led  him  to  disclose 
his  scheme  fully,  and  when  he  had  the  plot  open  before  him, 
he  broke  out  upon  the  tempting  rogue  with  an  astounding 
burst  of  indignation : — "  What !  you  want  to  lead  me  into 
dealing  like  this.  If  you  are  resolved  to  go  to  hell  yourself, 
why  should  you  try  to  drag  me  with  you  ?  And  you  profes« 
to  be  a  Wesleyan  and  a  local  preacher ! ! "  And  with  worda 
of  stinging  rebuke  he  dismissed  this  emissary  of  evil,  who, 
wishing  to  bribe  him  to  sin,  had  used  religion  as  a  card  of 
introduction.  When  men  coming  on  business  do  that,  one 
is  apt  to  suspect  them.  With  a  good  man,  religion  is  the 
pathway  to  the  favour  of  God ;  with  the  hypocrite  it  is  the 
pathway  to  the  favour  of  man.  And  as  to  this  swindler,  just 
reflect  on  the  errand  whereupon  he  had  set  out.  He  had 
discovered  a  clever  way  of  cheating,  a  way  that  would  pay  ; 
he  knew  that  men  of  business  have  their  weak  side ;  so  he 
set  forth  to  seek  a  partner  in  fraud  and  gain — set  forth,  as 
he  was  so  unexpectedly  told,  on  a  direct  journey  to  hell, 
seeking  whom  he  might  lead  with  him.  Whosoever  you  are 
that  dare  to  sell  yourself  for  silver  and  gold,  if  you  are  de- 
termined to  sin,  do,  for  mercy's  sake,  sin  alone.  Do  not 
tempt  others ;  they  are  weak,  as  weak  as  you  were.  Do  not 
tempt  them,  or  they  will  sin  with  you.  and  together  you  will 
taste  the  bitter  pains  of  eternal  death. 

Gold  well  gotten  is  bright  and  fair ;  but  there  is  gold 


A   DISFIGURED   SOUL.  157 

which  rusts  and  cankers.  The  stores  of  the  man  who  walks 
according  to  the  will  of  God  are  under  a  special  blessing ; 
but  the  stores  which  have  been  unjustly  gathered  are  ac- 
cursed. "  Your  gold  and  your  silver  is  cankered,  and  the 
rust  of  them  shall  be  a  witness  against  you,  and  shall  eat  up 
your  flesh  as  fire."  Far  better  have  no  gold  at  all,  than  gold 
with  that  curse  upon  it.  Far  better  let  cold  pinch  this  frame, 
or  hunger  gnaw  it,  than  that  the  rust  of  ill-gotten  gold 
should  eat  it  up  as  fire. 

Perhaps  you  may  once  or  twice  in  your  life  have  passed 
a  person  whose  countenance  struck  you  with  a  painful  amaze- 
ment.  It  was  the  face  of  a  man,  with  features  as  of  flesh 
and  blood,  but  all  hue  of  flesh  and  blood  was  gone,  and  the 
whole  visage  was  overspread  with  a  dull  silver  grey,  and  a 
mysterious  metallic  gloss.  You  felt  wonder,  you  felt  curi- 
osity, but  a  deep  impression  of  the  unnatural  made  pain  the 
strongest  feeling  of  all  which  the  spectacle  excited.  You 
found  it  was  a  poor  man  who,  in  disease,  had  taken  mercury 
till  it  transfused  itself  through  his  skin  and  glistened  in  his 
face.  Now  go  where  he  will,  he  exhibits  the  proof  of  his 
disorder,  and  of  the  large  quantity  of  metal  he  has  con- 
sumed. If  you  had  an  eye  to  see  the  souls  that  are  about 
you,  many  would  you  see — alas,  too  many, — who  are  just  like 
that;  they  have  swallowed  doses  of  metal,  —  ill-gotten, 
cankered,  rusted  metal,  —  till  all  purity  and  beauty  are 
destroyed.  The  metal  is  in  them,  throughout  them,  turning 
their  complexion,  attesting  their  disorder,  rendering  them 
shocking  to  look  upon  for  all  eyes  that  can  see  souls.  If  you 
have  unjust  gains,  they  do  not  disfigure  the  countenance  on 
which  we  shortsighted  creatures  look ;  but  they  do  make 
your  soul  a  pitiful  sight  to  the  great  open  Eye  that  does  see. 
Of  all  poisons  and  plagues,  the  deadliest  you  can  admit  to 
your  heart  is  gain  which  fraud  has  won.  The  curse  of  the 
Judge  is  in  it ;  the  curse  of  the  Judge  will  never  leave  it ; 


158  "A  MAN   MUST   LIVE." 

it  is  woe,  and  withering,  and  death  to  you  ;  it  will  eat  you 
up  as  fire  ;  it  will  witness  against  you  ;  ay,  were  that  poor 
soul  of  yours,  at  this  precise  moment,  to  pass  into  the  pre- 
sence of  its  Judge,  the  proof  of  its  money-worship  would  be 
as  clear  on  its  visage  as  the  proof  that  the  man  we  have 
described  has  taken  mercury  is  plain  upon  his. 

"  But  if  I  don't,  others  will ;  and  a  man  must  live."  To 
be  sure,  if  you  do  not  others  will ;  and  what  reason  is  there 
in  that  ?  According  to  that  you  may  resort  to  piracy  and 
pocket  picking.  "  A  man  must  live  !"  Yes,  but  a  man 
must  not  live  on  all  conditions  ;  there  are  some  things  worse 
than  death  ;  and  though  the  world  is  slow  to  own  it,  be  as- 
sured that  it  is  better  to  die  than  sin,  better  to  want  than 
defraud,  better  to  hunger  than  lie.  "  A  man  must  live  !" 
Do  you  mean  that  a  man  can  live  only  upon  the  fruits  of 
ain  ?  If  so,  what  great  use  ia  there  in  living  at  all  ?  But 
perhaps  all  you  mean  is,  that  if  you  are  to  keep  up  your 
present  show,  if  you  are  to  be  above  your  circumstances,  you 
cannot  do  it  by  fair  means.  You  do  not  mean  that  by  fair 
means  you  could  not  find  food  and  raiment,  but  that  you 
could  not  take  the  stand  you  do.  Well,  I  do  not  see  that 
Providence  ever  meant  to  furnish  you  with  facilities  for 
keeping  up  a  pleasing  imposture  ;  and  if  His  government 
does  not  harmonise  with  such  a  design,  surely  we  cannot  com- 
plain. But  if  you  really  mean  that  the  way  to  find  food  and 
raiment  is  to  sin  against  God  and  against  your  neighbour, 
then  I  protest  you  utter  wickedness  and  unbelief.  Do  you 
mean  to  tell  your  Maker  that,  did  you  perform  his  will,  He 
would  not  give  you  daily  bread  ? — that  you  can  only  subsist 
under  His  heaven  by  yielding  to  Satan  -  Dare  not  to  ima- 
gine such  vain  things ;  put  them  very  far  from  your  heart. 
The  Father  above  is  Father  to  body  and  soul.  "  The  Lord 
ia  for  the  body  ;"  He  set  every  one  of  its  strings  ;  He  has 
kept  it  from  its  birth  till  now  ;  the  breath  thereof  is  in  His 


"A  MAN   MUST  LIVE."  159 

hand.  His  own  Son  took  upon  him  such  a  body,  and  with  such 
a  body  went  up  on  high,  where  he  is  seated  now  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  He  has  chosen  the  body  for  his  living  temple  ; 
He  has  chosen  its  members  as  his  instruments  of  righteous- 
ness ;  He  has  destined  the  body  to  outlive  the  everlasting 
hills,  and  rise  above  the  unapproachable  stars,  incorruptible 
and  glorious,  with  his  sons  for  ever.  Do  you  then  dare  to 
think  that  the  thing  to  be  done  for  the  welfare  of  such  a  body 
is  to  place  it  at  the  service  of  sin,  to  let  its  members  work 
wickedness  1  He  does  not  promise  to  feed  your  pride,  to  feed 
your  imposture,  to  feed  your  idleness,  to  feed  your  fancies  ; 
but  He  does,  in  covenant  grace,  promise  to  care  for  your 
body  if  its  members  are  devoted  to  him.  "  Must  live  !" 
And  is  it  living  to  be  doing  wrong  for  the  sake  of  a  hundred 
a  year  more  than  you  could  gain  by  doing  right  ?  "  Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone  ;  but  by  every  word  that  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  This  is  the  answer  to  all 
Satan's  cry  about  "  you  must  live."  He  is  ever  showing  you 
some  method  "  to  make  bread,"  but  I  warn  you,  never  make 
bread  at  his  bidding.  You  have  another  life  than  that  which 
bread  nourishes ;  you  have  another  store  than  that  which 
holds  bread  you  can  weigh  and  measure  ; — "  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  That  is  your  store  ; 
a  promise  is  better  than  a  fraud  ;  and  he  is  more  certain  to 
live  who  trusts  in  the  word  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord, 
than  he  who,  distrusting  that,  proceeds  under  the  pressure  of 
want  to  make  hread  in  the  way  suggested  by  Satan. 

After  the  brothers  had  been  in  partnership  for  about 
twenty  years,  the  elder  retired,  leaving  the  business  to  the 
sole  direction  of  our  merchant.  About  this  time  he  made 
his  first  and  last  essay  in  speculation.  The  Chinese  war 
suddenly  threw  the  tea-market  into  agitation.  He  came  to 
London,  and  though  his  intention  had  been  but  slightly  di- 
rected to  the  tea  department  of  their  business,  he  bought 


160  SPECULATION. 

with  great  advantage,  and,  I  think,  on  the  transactions  of  one 
week  cleared  some  two  thousand  pounds.  But  in  the  course 
of  a  year  it  proved  that  he  lost  almost  as  much.  He  fre- 
quently cited  this  as  a  fair  example  of  what  was  to  be  got 
by  speculation  ;  and  though  so  energetic  in  the  legitimate 
prosecution  of  trade,  he  always  condemned  every  hazard  for 
the  chance  of  rapid  profits.  A  little  at  a  time  was  his  prin- 
ciple ;  and  he  preferred  the  slow  and  laborious  progress  made 
by  secure  trading,  to  the  risky  adventures  which  in  a  single 
day  might  bring  a  fortune  or  a  failure.  His  hatred  of  specu- 
lation did  not  arise  from  want  of  enterprise  or  want  of  nerve ; 
he  had  both,  but  he  had  enough  of  healthy  energy  not  to  re- 
quire articifial  excitement.  When  the  railway  rage  arose,  he 
firm.  No  man  naturally  would  feel  a  stronger  attraction  stood 
towards  a  commercial  arena  where  acuteness  and  push  seemed 
certain  of  golden  fruits ;  no  man  could  have  entered  that 
arena  with  a  clearer  probability  of  coming  off  a  winner  ;  but 
he  was  convinced  that  the  thing  was  wrong  and  foolish — a 
form  of  money-madness  into  which  no  religious  man  should 
allow  himself  to  be  seduced  ;  and  that  sums  gained  by  such 
bargains  were  not  the  wages  of  honest  labour,  but  the  win- 
nings of  questionable  play.  Ah,  what  sighs  would  have  been 
spared,  what  hearts  left  unbroken,  what  families  saved  from 
ruin,  what  consciences  from  defilement,  had  all  religious  men 
been  equally  wise  and  virtuous  in  that  time  of  fiery  testing 
for  the  Christians  of  this  country ! 

Mr.  Budgett  had  not  been  long  at  the  head  of  the  estab- 
lishment when  a  calamity  befell  it  which  seemed  at  the  mo- 
ment ruinous.  A  Bristol  paper  gave  the  following  account 
at  the  time  : — 

"  ALARMING  FIRE. — At  about  half-past  seven  on  Tuesday 
evening,  considerable  alarm  was  felt  throughout  this  city  by 
the  appearance  upon  the  horizon  of  a  conflagration,  evidently 
of  immense  extent,  the  heavens  being  completely  lit  up  with 


FERE   IN   THE   STORES.  161 

it  at  about  five  or  six  miles  distance.  Large  crowds  of  peo- 
ple, in  consequence,  congregated  upon  Kingsdown  and  the 
various  hills,  and  conjecture  was  rife  as  to  the  place  where 
the  fire  was  raging.  The  arrival  of  an  express  messenger  on 
horseback  for  the  attendance  of  the  engines  and  firemen  soon 
brought  the  intelligence  that  the  conflagration  had  taken  place 
upon  the  premises  of  the  Messrs.  H.  H.  and  S.  Budgett,  at 
Kingswood  Hill.  The  Messrs.  Budgett  are  among  the  most 
extensive  flour,  sugar,  tea,  and  general  merchants  in  this  part 
of  the  kingdom,  and  are  well  known  throughout  England  for 
their  extensive  mercantile  transactions.  They  have  several 
establishments  in  Bristol,  but,  from  some  motives  which  are 
unknown  to  us,  have  always  held  their  central  establishment 
at  Kingswood  Hill.  The  fire  was  discovered  by  one  of  the 
men  in  their  employment,  at  about  a  quarter-past  seven 
o'clock,  in  a  room  called  the  titler-room,  in  which  refined 
sugars  are  kept ;  and,  it  is  supposed,  originated  in  one  of  the 
flues  communicating  with  that  room.  A  messenger,  as  we 
have  already  said,  was  instantly  dispatched  to  Bristol ;  and, 
in  the  mean  time,  the  alarm  spread  rapidly  through  the  vil- 
lage and  neighbourhood,  all  the  inhabitants  of  which  imme- 
diately went  to  assist  in  subduing  the  fire.  Their  efforts,  it 
was  hoped  at  first,  would  have  been  successful ;  but,  in  a  few 
minutes,  the  fire  spread  in  a  most  alarming  manner,  and 
speedily  communicated  with  the  entire  range  of  warehouses. 
At  this  period  the  Norwich  Union  engine  arrived,  and  played 
on  the  fire ;  the  engines  of  the  other  offices  also  speedily 
arrived.  The  fire  in  the  warehouses  had,  however,  now 
reached  so  great  a  height  that  it  was  evident,  the  more  espe- 
cially considering  the  combustible  materials  with  which  they 
were  filled,  that  their  total  destruction  was  inevitable  ;  and 
the  efforts  of  all  therefore  were  directed  to  the  preservation 
of  the  adjoining  dwelling-houses,  upon  which  the  engines  play- 
ed, with  a  view  to  cut  off  the  communication  with  the  burn- 


162  BUSINESS   FIXED  IN   BRISTOL. 

ing  warehouses.  These  efforts  were  happily  successful,  and 
both  the  dwelling-houses  and  stables  of  the  establishment,  in 
which  were  forty-seven  valuable  draught  horses,  were  saved. 
The  fire  in  the  warehouses  continued  raging  until  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  it  was  got  under ;  but  not  until  all  the 
warehouses,  the  counting-houses,  and  the  retail  shop  had  been 
completly  destroyed.  The  books  were,  however,  fortunately 
saved.  This  was  most  fortunate,  as  their  loss  to  a  house  of 
such  transactions  as  the  Messrs.  Budgett,  would  have  been 
irretrievable.  The  stock  consumed  consisted  of  refined  su- 
gars, cheese,  coffee,  teas,  flour,  &c.,"  and  must  have  amounted 
to  several  thousand  pounds.  They  had  just  imported  two 
large  cargoes  of  fruit  and  a  heavy  stock  of  sugars ;  which 
were,  however,  fortunately  in  their  Bristol  warehouses.  The 
Messrs.  Budgett  are  insured  to  a  large  amount ;  £8,000  in 
the  Phoenix,  and  other  sums  in  various  offices." 

Beyond  the  sums  insured  the  pecuniary  loss  did  not  much 
exceed  three  thousand  pounds.  The  next  morning,  while  the 
ruin  was  still  reeking,  a  circular  went  forth  to  all  the  cus- 
tomers who  were  expecting  goods,  stating  that  a  fire  in  the 
premises  had  delayed  the  execution  of  their  orders,  but  that 
on  the  following  day  the  goods  should  be  dispatched.  It  had 
for  some  time  been  necessary  to  have  a  warehouse  in  Bris- 
tol ;  but  this  was  of  inconsiderable  size  compared  with  the 
demands  of  such  a  business  as  they  had  to  carry  on.  Thither 
Mr.  Budgett  hastened ;  he  at  once  concluded  an  engagement 
for  the  house  adjoining  the  one  already  in  possession ;  all 
energies  were  worked  ;  the  goods  ordered  were  all  dispatched 
the  next  day  ;  the  two  houses  were  soon  made  one ;  the  busi- 
ness was  rapidly  organised  in  the  new  premises ;  and  these 
grew  and  grew  till  they  assumed  the  dimensions  with  which 
we  found  them  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Budgett's  death.  The 
fire,  instead  of  a  disaster,  proved  eventually  to  be  a  great 
boon.  It  had  transferred  the  establishment  to  Bristol,  a 


HOUSE   AND   GROUNDS.  163 

change  involving  a  number  of  conspicuous  advantages.  From 
this  time  the  progress  was  amazingly  rapid ;  the  internal 
arrangements  were  gradually  perfected,  the  system  of  busi- 
ness began  to  be  better  understood,  early  prejudices  and 
animosities  considerably  abated,  and  the  flow  of  prosperity 
rose  higher  year  by  year. 

While  so  rapidly  extending  his  business,  Mr.  Budgett 
had  much  improved  his  residence.  He  had  filled  up  the 
quarry,  the  scene  of  his  meditations  on  the  happy  Sabbath 
days  of  boyhood,  and  turned  the  surface  into  gardens ;  he 
had  surrounded  his  house  with  extensive  grounds  ;  and  he 
had  some  forty  or  fifty  acres  of  land,  in  farming  which  he 
took  great  delight,  and  upon  which  he  contrived  to  find  em- 
ployment for  large  numbers  of  his  neighbours.  An  old  and 
tottering  man,  who  had  been  "  in  the  employ  "  from  the  time 
of  Mr.  Budgett's  youth,  and  who  gloried  in  the  growth  of 
the  establishment  as  if  it  had  been  his  own,  said  to  me,  in 
alluding  to  the  large  numbers  occasionally  employed  on  the 
farm,  "  Yes ;  I  remember  when  there  were  five  men  and  three 
horses,  and  I  have  lived  to  see  three  hundred  men  and  one 
hundred  horses." 

Mr.  Budgett  had  now  a  comfortable  mansion,  spacious 
grounds,  a  business  working  regularly  as  a  chronometer,  pay- 
ing richly  as  a  miser  could  desire,  and  a  family  all  that  was 
fitted  to  make  a  Christian  father  glad.  He  stood  on  the  very 
scene  of  his  apprentice  toils,  of  his  early  mercantile  endeav- 
ours, in  the  eyes  of  the  very  people  who  had  known  him  then, 
and  who,  in  his  position,  now  beheld  a  most  notable  example 
of  the  Successful  Merchant 


CHAPTER  VL 

MASTER     AND     MEN. 
•For  there  are  reciprocities  of  right  which  no  rreaUre  can  gainsay." 

JUTPDL 

THE  feudal  time  is  gone ;  the  feudal  tie  is  broken.  Some 
may  mourn  for  it ;  but  they  will  never  bring  it  back.  Ba- 
ronial castle  will  never  more  be  the  centre  of  activity  and 
protection ;  baronial  pennant  will  never  more  lead  out  the 
neighbouring  hinds  at  will.  The  sons  of  the  ancient  barons 
are  still  the  princes  of  the  people,  but  they  are  no  longer 
their  leaders.  Of  old,  the  noble  was  to  the  people  what  the 
commodore  was  "during  the  war"  to  the  merchant  fleet  he 
convoyed — the  defence  around  which  they  clung,  the  director 
to  whom  they  looked,  the  leader  whom  they  followed.  Now, 
the  noble  is  to  the  people  what  the  star  is  to  the  fleet — a 
bright  exalted  spectator  of  their  low  and  distant  progress, 
who,  in  a  sphere  inaccessible  to  them,  has  a  share  in  mark- 
ing out  their  destiny.  Direct  personal  intercourse  with  ac- 
tive masses  of  the  people,  the  noble  has  none.  Doubtless 
many  of  the  order  retain  a  hold  on  the  population  of  their 
ancestral  districts  ;  but  that  population  is  scattered  and  po- 
litically inert,  not  the  population  on  which  the  future  career 
of  the  nation  depends.  The  hordes  which  dwell  in  our 
great  towns,  whose  passions  play  under  constant  stimulus, 


THE   NEW   BAKONS.  165 

and  whose  movements  tell  as  a  combination  of  levers, 
they  are  the  people  now;  they  are  the  hosts  of  England 
with  whom  our  national  character  is  identified,  and  by 
whom  our  national  course  is  mainly  determined.  Between 
these  and  the  aristocracy  there  is  neither  intercourse  nor 
sympathy. 

But  new  barons  have  arisen,  ruling  in  new  castles,  and 
leading  new  bands.  The  baron  of  our  day  is  the  manufac- 
turer ;  the  castle,  the  mill ;  and  the  retainers,  the  factory 
troop.  Many  of  these  barons  are  lofty  enough  for  any  rank 
wherewith  either  Mammon  or  imagination  may  invest  them. 
If  some  barons  of  old  could  reckon  a  thousand  spears,  they 
can  reckon  a  thousand  spindles.  If  the  one  was  fain  to  watch 
his  stalwart  yeomen  shooting  the  feathered  arrow,  the  other 
is  fain  to  watch  his  troop  shooting  the  nimble  shuttle.  The 
mansions  of  the  new  lords  are  far  more  luxuriously  adorned 
than  were  those  of  the  old ;  and  if  their  tables  are  less  spa- 
cious, they  are  abundantly  more  superb.  You  may  think  of 
these  new  barons  as  you  please,  but  there  they  are,  and  well 
awake  to  their  importance ;  quite  as  stately  as  the  sons  of 
the  ancient  barons,  though  not  quite  so  courtly ;  quite  as 
high,  though  not  quite  so  graceful ;  quite  as  sumptuous, 
though  not  quite  so  polished ;  quite  as  lordly,  though  not 
quite  so  gentlemanly  ;  altogether  a  redoubtable  array  of 
purse-girded  potentates,  the  real  lords  of  this  real  golden 
age.  They  are  the  English  barons  of  the  nineteenth  centu- 
ry. It  is  around  their  castles  the  people  cluster ;  it  is  from 
their  hand  the  people  take  their  bread ;  it  is  with  their  for- 
tunes the  people  thrive  or  pine ;  it  is  at  their  bidding  the 
people  sit  down  amid  plenty,  or  go  out  to  struggle  with  the 
world  for  food.  The  great  manufacturers  and  the  great 
merchants  are  now  our  only  feudal  powers.  They  have  real 
interests  involved  with  the  people,  close  relations  with  them, 
personal  contact,  and  personal  influence  over  their  temper 


166  THEIB   PLACE  AND  EfFLUEJfCB. 

and  condition.  In  their  persons  the  workman  meets  the 
ranks  above  him.  Their  influence  on  the  legislature  is  rap- 
idly outstripping  that  of  their  more  noble  precursors,  and 
their  influence  on  the  people  is  far  more  direct,  continuous, 
and  fruitful. 

Our  peace  in  the  future  little  depends  on  the  dispersed 
population  of  those  districts  wherein  the  personal  influence 
of  the  aristocracy  is  yet  considerable  ;  but  it  does  most  close- 
ly depend  on  those  aggregations  of  stirring  men  over  whom 
JUT  commercial  magnates  preside.  From  these  we  have  to 
dread  the  hurricanes,  the  earthquakes,  and  the  eruptions.  It 
is  important  in  this  day  that  the  English  lords  should  be 
wise  and  magnanimous;  but,  perhaps,  it  is  still  more  im- 
portant, that  English-  masters  should  be  considerate  and 
winning.  We  are  not  much  in  danger  of  cruelty :  we  are 
greatly  in  danger  of  indifference.  Few  would  do  their  men 
harm,  would  tamper  with  their  rights,  would  enforce  any- 
thing manifestly  injurious.  All  would  pay  the  men  regular- 
ly, punctually,  and  in  full — of  course  they  would,  just  as 
they  would  oil  the  machinery,  because  if  they  did  not,  all 
would  soon  be  at  a  stand.  But  the  cases  are  many  wherein 
the  machinery  is  regularly  oiled,  the  men  regularly  paid,  and 
the  master  has  just  as  much  communication  with  the  one  as 
the  other.  He  knows  what  the  one  does,  and  what  the 
other  does.  If  the  one  breaks  a  wheel,  he  sends  for  an  en- 
gineer ;  if  the  other  breaks  a  bone,  he  sends  for  a  doctor. 
If  the  one  is  worn  out,  it  is  dismissed  ;  if  the  other  is  worn 
out,  it  is  dismissed.  Both  are  very  useful,  and,  perhaps,  the 
master  can  tell  you  the  name  of  both — of  the  machinery, 
always ;  of  the  man,  sometimes. 

Ah  !  ye  lords  of  cotton,  wool,  and  silk,  of  linen,  lace, 
and  hose,  ye  smile,  well  pleased,  when  one  alludes  to  the 
large  number  of  men  in  your  employment.  You  like  us  to 
know  that  you  have  "  more  hands  than  any  one  in  the  town." 


HANDS   AND   HEAD.  167 

Well,  we  must  not  chide  you  much  for  that  smile  ;  we  all 
look  pleasantly  on  our  own  importance;  it  is  ever  comely. 
But  of  all  those  men  in  your  employment,  how  many  receive 
a  friendly  word  from  you  in  the  course  of  a  year  ?  How 
many  ever  see  you  within  their  door?  How  many  could  tell 
how  kindly  you  inquired  for  their  wives  or  children  when  un 
well,  how  you  called  to  see  themselves  when  laid  up  at 
home,  how  your  wife  or  daughter  brought  them  something 
nice  ?  How  many  of  them  have  ever  heard  from  you  a 
hearty  word  of  good  advice,  urging  them  to  be  thrifty  and 
push  on  ?  With  how  many  have  you  kindly  reasoned  when 
they  have  been  foolish  and  unfaithful?  How  many  have 
you  put  on  their  guard  as  to  the  stuff  they  read,  the  way 
they  spend  their  idle  hours,  the  company  they  keep,  or  the 
habits  they  form  ?  How  many  have  you  helped  out  of  diffi- 
culties of  their  own  making,  pointing  out  to  them  their 
folly,  and  endeavouring  to  train  them  to  do  better  ?  To  how 
many  have  you  personally  given  a  present  of  some  wholesome 
book  ?  How  many  have  you  asked  how  they  spend  their  Sab- 
bath, or  counselled  as  to  the  ever-living  soul  that  is  in  them  ? 
Some  of  you  never  thought  of  sustaining  any  personal 
relation  to  your  men.  Your  relation  is  merely  commercial ; 
all  you  have  thought  of  is,  to  obtain  their  proper  quota  of 
labour,  and  to  give  your  proper  equivalent  of  pay;  there 
your  relation  terminates.  As  to  cultivating  any  sympathies 
with  them,  it  has  not  entered  your  head.  You  "  do  justly  by 
them,"  and  what  more  can  be  looked  for  ?  Yet,  after  being 
in  your  establishment  for  years  and  you  all  the  time  "  doing 
justly  by  them,"  they  do  not  feel  either  affection  or  respect, 
and  you  know  it.  You  know  that  if  they  saw  you  in  a  diffi- 
culty they  would  hardly  move  to  assist  you,  and  would  make 
no  scruple  of  going  off  and  leaving  you  to  sink  if  they  could 
improve  themselves  ever  so  little.  You  and  they  are  eating 
of  the  same  loaf ;  that  which  constitutes  your  provision  con- 


168  INDIFFERENCE  OF  WORKMEN. 

atitutes  theirs;  yet  no  fellow  feeling  exists  between  you. 
They  and  you  stand  in  a  relation  exceedingly  close,  and 
have  mutual  interests  very  important.  They  are  hands  to 
you ;  you  are  head  to  them.  Without  them,  you  are  help- 
less as  a  head  without  hands ;  without  you  they  are  helpless 
as  hands  without  a  head.  You  plan,  they  perform ;  both  are 
served.  Surely,  then,  those  who  are  so  connected  ought  not 
to  be  strangers ;  between  them  some  cordiality  should  exist. 
Their  relation  should  not  be  merely  mechanical ;  there  should 
be  heart  in  it,  warm  heart  and  fellowship. 

To  cultivate  affection  is  the  duty  of  the  stronger.  The 
inferior  finds  it  hard  to  make  approaches ;  from  the  superior 
they  come  with  grace  and  effect.  It  is  often  most  chilling  to 
find  how  carelessly  a  master  will  speak  of  the  total  want  of 
attachment  his  men  display ;  and  how  unsuspectingly  he  sets 
it  all  down  to  their  unsympathetic  nature.  But  what  pains 
•has  he  taken  to  gain  their  hearts  ;  that  is,  what  pains  has  he 
taken  to  make  them  happy  ?  Be  assured  that  human  nature 
is  human  nature  though  in  fustian  or  in  frieze ;  and  patient 
kindness,  if  it  fail  on  some,  will  win  the  majority.  He  who 
declaims  on  the  unloving  and  reckless  character  of  his  men, 
tells  two  tales — one  of  the  men,  another  of  the  master. 
There  are  some  workmen  whose  master  could  not  honestly 
charge  them  with  being  indifferent  to  his  interests ;  but  that 
master  is  one  whom  the  men  could  not  charge  with  being  in- 
different to  theirs.  Be  assured  that  it  is  the  superior  who  is 
to  seek  affection ;  every  master  should  hold  himself  bound 
to  watch  for  the  happiness  of  his  men,  and  in  seeking  their 
happiness  he  will  gain  their  hearts.  Every  man  in  his  estab- 
lishment is  a  partaker  of  his  efforts  and  is  fed  of  his  gains,  he 
ought  to  be  part  of  his  care.  But  you  say  you  have  no  time 
to  attend  to  them.  What  does  that  mean  ?  Why  precisely 
that  if  you  devote  all  your  time  to  your  own  interests,  yon 
cannot  devote  a  part  of  it  to  theirs ;  that  if  you  spend  every 


DUTIES   AND   EIGHTS.  169 

available  hour  to  make  yourself  rich,  you  have  no  hour  to 
spend  to  make  your  men  happy.  That  is  plain  enough. 
"  But,  business  must  be  done."  Yes,  it  must  be  done ;  but 
no  duty  binds  you  to  undertake  so  much  business  that  you 
can  do  no  office  of  Christian  kindness.  Far  better  that  part 
of  the  business  should  be  done  by  some  one  else,  than  that 
nil  the  charity  should  be  neglected  by  you. 

As  at  present  existing,  the  relation  of  master  and  men 
is  loose,  changeable,  material.  The  man  works  for  a  certain 
firm  just  as  he  rides  in  a  certain  train,  because  it  happens  to 
suit  him  ;  but  he  feels  no  more  affection  for  the  masters  and 
no  more  interest  in  their  prosperity  than  he  does  in  the  direc- 
tors of  the  railway  and  their  dividend.  The  firm  takes  up 
men  just  as  a  train  takes  up  passengers.  The  concern  needs 
them;  but  whence  they  came,  and  whither  they  go,  or  at 
what  point  of  the  journey  they  part,  are  matters  of  no  in- 
terest. It  is  full  time  that  masters  as  a  class  did  begin  in 
earnest,  to  do  what  some  have  long  been  doing — attempt  to 
create  between  themselves  and  their  men  a  close  and  per- 
manent connection  and  a  moral  tie.  It  is  high  time  that 
masters  learned  that  business  has  two  sides, — duty  as  well 
as  interest.  They  are  ready  enough  to  tell  landlords  that  pro- 
perty has  its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights ;  and  they  have  just 
cause  to  do  so,  for  the  thing  is  true.  But,  it  is  not  true  of  land- 
ed property  alone,  not  of  the  relation  of  landlord  and  tenant 
alone,  but  of  all  kinds  of  property  and  all  kinds  of  lordship. 
The  master  has  his  duties  as  well  as  his  rights,  and  they  are 
not  done  when  the  wages  are  paid.  That  is  just  oiling  the 
machinery,  no  more.  It  is  a  purely  material  act ;  without 
it  you  would  have  all  in  a  blaze.  It  is  done  to  keep  the 
concern  going,  not  to  elevate  or  bless  the  men.  Now,  un- 
doubtedly the  master  ought  to  consider  it  part  of  his  busi- 
ness to  make  his  men  happy,  ought  to  spend  hours  and 
energies  and  sums  for  this  one  end,  ought  to  labour  at  it, 


170  MACIUNEET  AND  MEN. 

and  sustain  disappointments  in  it,  and  brave  discourage- 
ments, and  feel  how  hard  it  is  to  do  good,  and  persist  in 
doing  it  till  at  last  he  saw  that  he  had  not  laboured  in  vain. 
It  is  a  proud  thing  for  a  master  to  show  his  beautiful  m- 
gine-room,  clean  as  a  parlour,  his  bright  machinery,  his  ad- 
mirable textures,  his  vast  production.  He  has  a  right  to 
take  an  interest  in  all  these ;  and,  if  conscious  that  other 
things  were  right,  we  should  take  a  most  lively  interest  in 
them  also,  share  his  pleasure,  rejoice  in  his  success,  and  pour 
our  honest  blessing  on  the  labour  of  his  hands.  But  it  ig 
not  always  one  can  do  so.  True,  great  care  has  been  taken 
about  the  engines ; — what  has  been  done  for  the  mind,  heart, 
and  life  of  the  engineers?  The  "  mules"  and  "jennies,"  the 
rollers  and  looms,  are  all  in  perfect  trim,  the  gear  runs 
smoothly,  the  produce  is  unblamcable ;  a  world  of  diligent 
application  has  been  spent  to  bring  the  work  to  this  perfec- 
tion ;  but  what  has  been  done  for  the  mind,  heart,  and  life, 
of  the  workers  ?  Some  masters  there  are,  who  have  learned 
the  lesson  of  their  duty,  and  follow  it  with  a  cheerful  heart. 
As  I  write  some  rise  up  to  my  memory.  I  think  of  their 
schools,  the  plans  of  improvement,  the  care  for  the  comfort 
of  their  men's  houses,  the  training  of  the  children,  the  effort 
to  spread  good  feeling  and  good  living,  the  attention  to  the 
soul's  welfare ;  and,  as  I  think  of  these  men,  my  heart  within 
me  blesses  them.  Go  on,  my  friend,  go  on  and  be  hearty ; 
your  work  is  often  thankless,  as  are  all  good  works  in  this 
bad  world,  but  keep  to  it,  nevertheless.  Doing  good  is  no 
idle  enterprise  ;  its  difficulties  abound,  but  its  fruits  are  not 
doubtful. 

The  French  revolution  of  1848  has  proved  an  abortion  ; 
but  the  parent  of  that  abortion  lives,  and  still  threatens 
society  with  pains  and  travail.  Socialism,  whence  it  sprang, 
and  by  which  it  sank,  is  capable  of  assuming  a  thousand 
forms  and  following  a  thousand  banners.  It  is  abroad  in 


SOCIALISM.  171 

England  now,  wearing  innocent  veils  and  using  creditable 
names.     It  has  won  over  honest,  forcible  men,  who  fight  its 
battles  with  heart  and  valour.     It  is  raising,  under  English 
forms,  the  same  feelings  it  raised  in  France.     It  -is  baptising 
with  Christian  names  dogmas  which  elsewhere  seek  no  such 
consecration.     It  is  spreading  further,  deeper,  swifter  than 
most  of  your  masters  imagine.     It  is  reaching  our  workmen, 
enlisting  and  combining  its  soldiers,  laying  up  its  ammuni- 
tion for  another  day.    Some  of  its  agents  dream  of  new  eras 
of  brotherhood  and  equality ;  while,  in  good  truth,  it  is  pre- 
paring a  time  when  the  distinction  between  men  shall  not 
lie  in  richer  and  poorer,  master  and  servant,  but  in  assailant 
and  defender,  in  victor  and  vanquished.     You  masters  have 
no  fear  of  Socialism  in  England,  and  most  certainly  you 
have  abundant  guarantees  against  it,  if  duly  improved ;  but 
many  of  you  are  too  busy  to  read,  too  careless  about  your 
men  to  know  what  they  read,  too  much  strangers  to  their 
habits  and  their  haunts  to  know  what  they  discuss  and  what 
they  hear.     I  tell  you  it  is  quite  time  for  you  to  be  alert. 
Sleep  a  few  years  longer  and  you  may  be  awoke  by  thunder. 
Thoughts  are  spreading,  things  are  doing,  well  calculated  to 
gain  the  ear  of  the  workman,  and  well  calculated  to  throw 
society  into  agonies.     Were  it  only  to  save  a  class  it  would 
not  be  worth  while  to  raise  an  alarm.     No  good  man  would 
seek  to  protect  a  few  in  absorbing  that  which  might  properly 
be  distributed  among  the  many.     Did  I  see  in  Socialism 
unquestionable  benefits  for  the  men,  as  all  see  unquestion- 
able ruin  for  the  masters,  why  then,  for  me,  the  masters 
might  repose  till  they  found  the  irruption  begun.     But  that 
system,  though  potent  to  impoverish  the  affluent,  is  power- 
less to  enrich  the  poor,  and  must  reduce  all  classes  to  desti- 
tution j   cripple,  hamper,  bewilder,  and  chafe,  till   society 
perishes  in  confusion,  or  finds  escape  in  a  return  to  the  laws 
«\f  free  commerce.     While  some  imagine  they  are  seeking 


172  DISCIPLINE. 

the  welfare  of  the  workman  by  framing  new  schemes  and 
shapes  of  society,  others  who  see  in  those  schemes  and  shapes 
an  earnest  of  hunger,  and  battle,  and  military  tyranny, 
ought  to  urge  on  those  attainable  and  Christian  ameliorations 
of  the  relations  between  men  and  their  masters  whereby  a 
healthy  state  of  feeling  would  be  induced,  which  would  be 
unfavourable  to  political  epidemics.  How  much  of  the 
country's  peace  depends  on  the  bearing  of  masters  no  one 
can  tell.  If  men  see  themselves  used  but  not  valued,  em- 
ployed but  not  improved,  necessary  but  not  noticed,  they 
will  inevitably  become  sour  and  ready  to  embrace  any  theory 
about  the  hostility  of  capital  to  labour  and  the  community 
of  goods.  Duty  cannot  be  neglected  without  harm  to  those 
who  practise  and  those  who  suffer  the  neglect.  Masters 
ought  to  take  pains — patient,  costly,  systematic  pains  for  the 
happiness  of  their  men.  If  they  will  neglect  this  staring 
duty,  and  perform  for  their  men  only  the  one  unavoidable 
service  of  payment  when  pay-day  comes,  how  can  they  ex- 
pect the  men  to  feel  towards  them  anything  but  disregard 
inspired  by  their  indifference,  and  envy  inspired  by  their 
wealth  ? 

In  Mr.  Budgett's  conduct  towards  his  men,  nothing  was 
more  prominent  than  a  rigid  enforcement  of  discipline. 
Both  he  and  his  brother  were  fond  of  system,  and  had  taken 
much  pains  to  bring  the  whole  business  under  a  code  of  laws, 
and  to  instruct  each  man  precisely  in  the  duty  pertaining  to 
his  department.  The  laws  were  ever  undergoing  improve- 
ment, but  they  were  never  suffered  to  be  broken.  A  rule 
in  force  was  sacred  ;  no  excuse  would  be  accepted.  A  breach 
of  law  was  a  fault  to  be  confessed,  and  whoever  repeatedly 
disobeyed  any  rule  whatever  was  inexorably  dismissed.  With 
those  who  gave  evidence  of  talent  Mr.  Budgett  would  take 
considerable  pains — training  a  young  buyer  by  his  own  side 
in  the  market,  accompanying  a  young  traveller  on  his  jour* 


TRAINING.  173 

ney,  or  giving  a  warehouseman  or  clerk  frequent  lessons  in 
the  system  they  were  expected  to  pursue.  When  he  had 
thus  educated  a  man  up  to  his  satisfaction,  he  would  place 
him  in  a  post  of  considerable  responsibility,  and  take  great 
pleasure  in  his  success. 

To  many,  especially  to  young  men,  a  master  whose  dis- 
cipline is  lax  seems  a  much  kinder  master  than  one  who 
holds  them  to  rule  and  duty.  Whatever  may  be  the  inten- 
tention  of  such  a  master,  his  influence  is  cruel.  A  more 
serious  injury  cannot  be  inflicted  on  a  young  man  than  is 
inflicted  by  the  indulgences  and  negligences  of  a  master 
who  does  not  maintain  discipline.  Rules  should  be  reason- 
able, duties  moderate,  hours  considerate ;  but  if  the  master 
would  do  his  duty,  he  must  train  every  man  who  passes 
under  his  hands  to  unflinching  habits  of  order,  punctuality, 
and  obedience.  He  ought  not  to  let  any  man  dilly-dally, 
or  go  forth  from  his  instructions  incapable  of  making  his 
way  among  able  and  well  taught  men.  Of  all  who  have 
been  in  Mr.  Budgett's  employment.  I  do  not  suppose  that 
one  could  charge  a  failure  in  life  on  the  habits  acquired 
there  ;  while  some,  who  are  now  in  circumstances  of  comfort 
and  respect,  have  told  me,  with  a  gush  of  feeling,  what  pains 
he  had  taken  to  train  them  up  to  the  habits  which  have  made 
them  what  they  are. 

A  disciplinarian  who  wants  to  form  men  to  a  standard 
existing  in  his  own  mind  is  ever  on  the  watch  for  men  after 
his  model.  This  was  Mr.  Budgett's  case ;  he  ever  wanted 
men  capable  of  seizing  and  accomplishing  his  purposes. 
"  He  has  no  head,"  would  be  his  rapid  sentence  on  a  man 
with  some  good  points.  A  man  who  would  waste  or  dilly- 
dally was  to  him  intolerable.  His  favourite  formula  of 
qualification  was,  "  Tact,  push,  and  principle  ;" — the  three 
things,  indubitably,  which  form  your  proper  man  of  mark  in 
trade.  For  them  he  was  constantly  on  the  look  out,  and 


174  "TACT,  PUSH,  AND  PRINCIPLE." 

when  a  man  came  under  his  eye  in  whom  he  discerned  them, 
he  would  be  most  anxious  to  add  him  to  his  staff.  Without 
tact  and  push  a  man  of  principle  may  be  very  good  for  many 
things,  but  not  for  business  ;  and  without  principle  tact  and 
push  are  only  powers  to  do  evil.  Speaking  of  a  sharp,  stir- 
ring man  who  would  lie  or  play  tricks,  he  would  say, "  What 
is  the  use  of  a  tub  that  is  tight  all  round  but  has  a  hole  in 
the  bottom."  One  often  hears  of  masters,  honourable  men, 
who  would  not  do  an  unhandsome  thing  in  their  proper  per- 
sons, who  yet  look  very  kindly  on  men  of  tact  and  push  who 
show  a  lack  of  principle  only  at  the  expense  of  customers. 
Mr.  Budgett  would  see  that  no  man  wasted  his  goods  or 
time,  that  none  gave  overweight,  or  sold  carelessly,  or  in  any 
way  damaged  his  interests ;  but  he  would  insist  that  they 
should  do  justice  to  all.  Masters,  be  assured  that  no  bless- 
ing will  come  with  the  smart  salesman  who  can  cozen  the 
public  and  tell  fibs  with  facility :  he  is  a  "  tub  with  a  hole 
in  the  bottom,"  and  you  had  better  be  without  him.  Em- 
ployers may  be  quite  assured  that  it  is  not  enough  for  them 
to  abstain  from  telling  a  man  to  lie  or  cheat ;  they  may  lay 
tasks  upon  him  which  can  hardly  be  discharged  by  fair  deal- 
ing, they  may  show  an  avidity  for  results  and  an  indiffer- 
ence as  to  means,  which  act  upon  all  but  men  of  stiff  integ- 
rity as  a  certain  lure  to  foul  play.  Gentlemen  of  honour, 
who  would  blush  to  be  accused  of  an  unfairness,  have  dozens 
of  ill-complexioned  doings  in  their  warehouses  every  day, 
and  that  perforce  of  their  haste  to  do  an  immense  amount  of 
business,  and  of  their  lauding  success  in  their  men  without 
any  attention  to  principle.  If  you  have  a  conscience,  if  you 
would  really  rather  be  without  money  than  have  money 
stained  with  dishonour,  then,  I  can  assure  you  of  what  you 
might  know  very  well  yourself,  if  you  were  much  awake, — 
that  you  have  something  to  do  to  keep  soiled  money  out  of 
your  store.  You  must  not  leave  to  your  men  to  deceive  or 


INSIGHT.  175 

not  just  as  they  like  ;  you  must,  in  very  great  earnest,  and 
very  often  too,  tell  them  that  no  man  in  your  employment 
shall  practise  anything  which  you  would  not  defend  before 
God  and  man. 

While  Mr.  Budgett  was  constantly  on  the  alert  for  men 
after  his  own  heart,  he  had,  as  we  stated  long  ago,  a  remark- 
able discernment  of  character.  One  instance  I  may  give, 
out  of  many.  A  friend  of  his,  a  grocer,  told  me  that  on  many 
occasions  when  he  passed  through  his  shop,  he  would  make 
remarks  upon  the  young  men  whom  he  had  seen  behind  the 
counter,  saying  that  one  was  not  worth  his  salt,  and  that 
another  would  do  well ;  and  scarcely  ever  was  the  estimate 
thus  formed  at  a  glance  erroneous.  Once  he  said,  after  just 
passing  through  the  shop,  "  Where  did  you  get  that  young 
man?"  The  answer  was  given. 

"  I  would  not  keep  him  for  a  day." 
"  Why  ?     He  is  a  very  clever  young  man." 
"  Yes,  he  is  clever  enough ;  but  he  is  a  rogue." 
"  Well,  certainly  I  have  seen  nothing  wrong  about  him, 
and  I  never  yet  saw  his  equal  behind  the  counter." 

"  Very  well ;  I  tell  you  I  would  not  keep  him  an  hour, 
and  you  will  find  it  out  yet." 

"  But  I  can't  dismiss  him  without  cause,  and  he  has  given 
me  no  cause." 

He  insisted  to  the  last  on  his  view  of  the  young  man, 
and,  after  leaving,  told  a  mutual  friend  that  a  very  improper 
young  man  was  in  such  a  one's  shop — he  was  sure  of  it. 
His  discernment  was  so  well  known,  that  the  young  shopman 
had  now  his  master's  eye  upon  him  with  restless  vigilance. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  was  detected  stealing  money.  He 
was  lodged  in  the  jail  at  Shepton-Mallet.  On  the  day  when 
the  trial  was  to  come  on,  the  master  was  there.  A  solicitor 
came  to  tell  him  that  a  sister  of  Mr.  Smith  had  come  down 
from  London,  a  very  respectable  married  woman,  near  her 


176  MR.    SMITH. 

confinement  and  in  great  agony  at  her  brother's  disgrace, — IB 
fact,  so  excited  that  he  quite  feared  the  consequences  if  the 
trial  went  on ;  moreover  she  was  a  Wesleyan,  to  which  de- 
nomination the  prosecutor  belonged,  and  she  begged  an 
interview.  They  met :  she  was  respectable,  prepossessing, 
and  well  spoken  ;  her  condition  was  touching,  and  she  talked 
touchingly  of  her  poor  unhappy  brother.  The  heart  of  the 
prosecutor  was  almost  won  ;  but  something  aroused  his  sus- 
picion. He  put  a  question  or  two  as  to  her  brother  and 
the  family :  the  tale  did  not  precisely  fit.  He  put  one  or 
two  questions  more :  the  interesting  Wesleyan  sister  of  Mr. 
Smith,  appeared  simply  as  a  clever  partner  in  a  fraud.  Mr. 
Smith  was  sentenced  to  a  term  of  imprisonment.  On  the 
very  week  of  his  release  he  obtained  two  situations  in  Ply- 
mouth and  lost  both  through  dishonesty.  Then  his  old  em- 
ployer heard  no  more  of  him  till  he  was  summoned  to  Coven- 
try to  identify  a  Mr.  Smith  who  was  there  awaiting  trial. 
He  had  been  in  the  service  of  a  grocer  there,  and  had 
managed  daily,  for  a  long  time,  to  send  off  a  hamper  of 
goods  to  London  by  railway ;  and  when  the  police  traced  his 
store  it  amounted  to  two  waggon  loads. 

What  he  did  not  see  at  a  glance  he  would  soon  find  out 
in  conversation.  His  power  of  eliciting  from  a  person  all 
that  enabled  him  to  tell  precisely  what  they  were  and  what 
their  history,  was  very  remarkable.  A  young  man  is  now 
in  the  employment  of  one  of  his  friends  whom  Mr.  Budgett 
was  requested  to  see  before  he  was  engaged.  He  perceived 
that  Mr.  Budgett  was  aware  of  the  reason  why  he  had  left 
his  former  situation,  and  as  he  had  obtained  from  his  late 
employers  a  promise  that  they  would  not  state  anything  on 
the  point,  he  was  displeased,  and  wrote  to  reproach  them 
with  a  breach  of  agreement.  The  fact  was  that  Mr.  Bud- 
gett  had  discovered  the  matter  in  conversation,  without  the 
other  being  conscious  of  it 


IMPOSTORS.  177 

He  would  not  be  imposed  upon.  If  a  man  was  in  fault 
and  frankly  confessed,  nothing  could  be  more  cheerful  than 
his  forgiveness  ;  but  when  once  he  saw  the  least  disposition 
to  equivocate,  all  his  powers  were  called  forth  to  reach  the 
truth,  and  the  truth  he  would  reach.  He  was  as  persevering 
as  he  was  quick ;  as  careless  of  wounding  a  man's  pride  as  he 
would  be  prompt  to  heal  any  worthy  sorrow.  Into  the 
man's  heart  he  would  get,  no  matter  how  long  it  took  him, 
by  questions  directed  this  way  or  that  way,  near  the  point 
or  away  from  it.  In  proportion  to  the  dissimulation  mani- 
fested his  displeasure  would  rise,  and  if  the  case  were  really 
bad  his  rebuke  would  be  tremendous.  But  the  man  who 
showed  an  open  heart  always  found  a  generous  considera- 
tion above  what  he  would  have  thought  possible. 

This  determination  not  to  be  imposed  upon  he  carried 
out  everywhere,  with  men,  neighbours,  and  customers.  Ever 
indulgent  to  an  acknowledged  fault,  he  was  ever  most  inex- 
orable against  an  attempt  at  imposture.  Men  who  will  not 
be  imposed  upon  always  make  themselves  enemies.  Many 
will  not  forgive  him  who  defeats  them  in  an  attempt  to  play 
foul ;  they  will  represent  him  in  all  bad  lights, — as  hard, 
heartless,  and  so  on.  It  is  one  thing  to  forgive  a  wrong 
when  it  is  done  to  you  ;  it  is  another  to  permit  a  man  to  do 
a  wrong  with  your  eyes  open.  It  is  a  Christian  duty  to  re- 
pay the  man  who  has  done  you  evil  with  good  ;  but  it  is  no 
duty  at  all  when  you  see  a  man  intending  to  do  wrong  to 
shut  your  eyes  and  let  him  do  it :  by  stopping  him  there  you 
may  save  him  thereafter.  No  kind  of  imposture  so  roused 
the  ire  of  Mr.  Budgett  as  when  a  man  put  on  a  profession 
of  religion  with  any  left-handed  design.  His  well  known 
character  exposed  him  to  attempts  of  this  kind  ;  but  woe  to 
the  caitiff  whom  he  caught  at  it ; — his  ears  heard  plain  words, 
and  words  of  fire.  In  the  case  of  the  vinegar  maker  we  have 
already  seen  with  what  force  he  would  stamp  on  that  rep- 


178       GOOD  MEN  AND  GOOD  TRADESMEN. 

tile, — the  stcalthiest,  the  slimiest,  the  most  poisonous,  the 
most  loathsome  of  all  the  reptile  race, — who  would  make 
merchandise  of  religion.  Easy,  undiscerning  Christians  who 
can  be  quickly  practised  upon,  are  great  favourites  with 
people  who  require  such  subjects  ;  but  while  we  suspect  no 
man  without  cause,  and  pardon  all  men  without  reserve,  we 
should  not  invite  deception,  but  exert  ourselves  to  bind  every 
one  by  the  rule  of  right.  Every  religious  man  should  en- 
deavour to  drive  fraud  and  deceit  out  of  the  world,  first 
in  his  own  dealings,  secondly  in  the  dealings  of  those  who 
act  in  his  name,  then  in  the  dealings  of  all  mankind  ;  but  let 
him  see  that  he  begins  at  home. 

On  this  point  of  discipline  many  young  men  are  apt  to 
mistake  masters,  and  to  think  that  religious  character  is 
not  prized,  because  they  see  a  man  indifferent  to  religion 
often  advanced  before  one  who  consistently  professes  it. 
But,  in  business,  men  must  be  estimated  by  their  business  at- 
tainments. If  two  bootmakers  serve  you,  and  the  one  gives 
you  a  better  boot  than  the  other,  you  cannot  help  saying  he 
is  the  better  bootmaker,  even  though  the  other  may  be  the 
better  man.  So  in  two  salesmen  ;  if  one  is  apt,  adroit,  and 
successful,  and  the  other  less  so,  the  master  cannot  help  see- 
ing that  the  successful  one  is  the  better  salesman,  even 
though  the  other  must  be  considered  the  better  man.  Young 
men  ought  not  to  expect  that  piety  alone  should  improve 
their  position  in  a  house,  except  as  it  forms  them  to  better 
habits,  and  ought  to  concede  to  others  all  the  superiority 
they  may  happen  to  possess.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  mas- 
ters should  take  good  care  that  the  honest  and  conscientious 
man  does  not  see  another  raised  above  him  just  because  he 
uses  unfair  arts  and  thereby  secures  sales  which  could  not 
be  effected  by  truth-telling.  Masters  should  make  up  their 
minds  to  lose  all  that  sharp  subordinates  might  gain  by  un- 
justifiable means,  and  to  set  their  faces  against  all  such  prao- 


PILFEEEES.  179 

tices ;  and  we  may  assure  them  again,  that  if  they  are  not 
to  pocket  money  got  by  such  means,  they  must  be  careful  to 
mark  a  man  who  will  lie  or  cheat  in  order  to  effect  sales,  as 
they  are  careful  to  mark  one  who  fails  to  sell  pentifully. 
No  blessing  is  with  the  unscrupulous  though  clever  servant, 
and  every  honest  master  ought  to  make  him  feel  that  he  be- 
lieves it,  and  that  he  values  principle  and  uprightness  more 
than  mere  tact.  The  man  of  tact  and  push  without  princi- 
ple is  a  cask  of  P.  D.,  and  ought  not  to  be  suffered. 

One  or  two  cases  show  his  determination  to  detect  and 
get  rid  of  men  he  could  not  trust,  and  at  the  same  time  show 
his  benevolence  in  a  light  almost  amusing.  There  was  a 
tree  whereof  the  fruit  was  very  fugitive.  The  man  he  sus- 
pected "  never  touched,"  no  one  touched  ;  yet  away  and 
away  went  the  fruit.  He  made  a  present  of  the  fruit  on  the 
tree  to  the  party  suspected,  and  thenceforth  it  staid  quite 
safely.  His  point  was  gained ;  he  "  had  found  it."  An- 
other man  and  his  wife  were  suspected  of  petty  pilfering 
about  the  farm.  Proof  was  long  impossible:  at  length  a 
discovery  of  potatoes  secreted  set  suspicion  on  foot  anew. 
Neither  man  nor  wife  would  confess.  Another  woman  was 
somehow  connected  with  the  matter :  he  took  the  two  wo- 
men, placed  them  in  different  rooms,  interrogated  them 
separately,  passed  from  the  one  to  the  other,  compared  their 
statements,  and  elicited  a  confession  from  the  second  woman. 
But  the  principal  one  was  proof  against  all  his  tact :  she 
and  her  husband  received  orders  to  -leave  the  premises  im- 
mediately. But  he  wished  them  to  have  means  of  living 
honestly  if  they  would  ;  and,  in  Kingswood,  any  one  who 
has  a  horse  may  do  so  by  carting,  or,  as  the  phrase  is,  "  haul- 
ing" coals  to  Bristol.  In  dismissing  them,  therefore,  he 
gave  the  man  a  horse.  The  wife,  little  moved  by  this  gen- 
erosity, raised  an  outcry  about  the  hardships  of  being  turned 
away,  and  demanded,  "  What  is  the  use  of  a  horse  without  s 


180  DISMISSALS. 

cart  ?"  Mr.  Budget*  reasoned  with  her,  told  her  how  an- 
other master  might  have  prosecuted  them  ;  but  her  mood 
was  unchangeable.  "  It  is  very  hard  to  be  turned  away ; 
and  what  is  a  poor  man  to  do  with  a  horso  without  a  cart  ?" 
He  reproved  her  again ;  but  he  gave  them  a  cart.  The  in- 
gratitude of  the  poor  is  constantly  urged  as  a  reason  for 
neglecting  them.  The  dishonest  and  the  idle  are  ungrate- 
ful ;  but  as  for  the  honest  industrious  poor,  it  will  be  found 
that  real  service  always  meets  from  them  a  hearty  and  a 
long  continued  thankfulness.  Some  are  astonished  how 
their  great  kindness  begets  so  little  gratitude  ;  others  have 
been  astonished  that  little  kindness  begot  so  much. 

A  person  in  Mr.  Budgett's  employment  gave  him  dissat- 
isfaction. He  felt  he  could  no  longer  confide  in  him,  and 
when  that  was  the  case  with  any  man  about  him  he  could 
not  be  happy  ;  he  dismissed  him.  The  man  took  his  revenge 
by  going  to  the  houses  with  which  Mr.  Budgett  had  ac- 
counts and  causing  a  run  for  payment,  as  we  saw  in  the  last 

chapter.     Some   time  after  he  heard  that and  his 

family  were  in  great  destitution  ;  they  had  been  away  from 
the  neighbourhood  for  a  time,  but  had  returned.  Mr. 
Budgett  went  to  see  them  accompanied  by  a  friend  ;  the 
house  was  in  a  miserable  state,  the  garden  was  desolate, 
neither  meat  nor  bread  seemed  within  the  door,  and  two  fine 
boys  were  lying  in  bed  because  they  had  no  clothes.  Mr. 
Budgett  at  once  ordered  meat  from  the  butcher,  bread  from 
the  baker,  sent  groceries,  sent  a  tailor  to  clothe  the  children 
hired  a  man  to  till  the  garden,  and  gave  them  an  allowance  of 
twelve  shillings  per  week  till  the  father  of  the  family  should 
find  employment  But  he  had  no  "  push,"  and  found  no  em- 
ployment. He  soon  applied  to  be  taken  back  ;  Mr.  Budgett 
refused.  He  applied  again;  then  Mr.  Budgett  consented, 
but  only  with  a  salary  far  below  what  he  had  enjoyed  before, 
and  on  condition  that  he  should  look  out  for  another  situa- 


THE  TIME   GUAGE.  181 

tion.  Every  week  he  set  down  to  the  credit  of  the  man,  in 
a  private  ledger,  some  twelve  shillings,  which  he  thought  was 
about  the  difference  between  what  he  was  paying  him  and 
what  his  services  would  be  worth  should  he  prove  worthy  of 
confidence.  He  did  all  he  could  to  make  him  trustworthy, 
and  even  became  a  teetotaller  to  induce  him  to  follow  his 
example.  At  length,  however,  both  his  confidence  and  his 

patience  had  gone  ;  he  called into  his  private  office, 

and  told  him  they  must  part  j  "  But  Mr. •!  will  give 

your  family  fifty  pounds  in  weekly  pay  while  you  are  seek- 
ing employment,  and  I  am  assured  of  it." 

"  Give,  Sir,  I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  gift,  my  remuneration 
has  not  been  just." 

The  merchant  just  looked  up  from  his  desk,  pointed  to 

the   door   and   said,  "  0,   very   well,   Mr. ,   that  is 

enough." 

"  Sir,  I  did  not  mean  to  offend,  I  hope  you  will  forgive 
what  I  said." 

It  was  long  before  he  found  any  employment,  and  for  a 
very  lengthened  period  Mr.  Budgett  regularly  allowed  hi& 
family  twelve  shillings  a  week. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  where  strict  discipline  is  concern- 
ed, punctuality  was  a  prime  virtue.  He  was  himself  punc- 
tual as  a  chronometer,  even  out  of  business.  If  he  had 
made  an  engagement  'with  his  neighbour  the  Rev.  J.  Glan- 
ville,  and  was  a  minute  late,  he  would  apologise  and  account 
for  it.  So  his  men  must  be  at  work  at  the  given  moment, 
and  his  travellers  must  so  arrange  their  journey  that  every 
customer  shall  know  at  what  hour  to  expect  .them.  But  as 
discipline  and  punctuality  are  not  meant  to  abridge  but  to 
defend  happiness,  he  contrived  to  place  the  arrangements 
enforcing  these  in  a  light  which  commended  them  to  the  men. 
The  hour  to  begin  work  was  six  o'clock.  By  the  gate  hung 
a  black  board  divided  into  squares,  each  square  was  num- 


182  PUNCTUALITY. 

bered  and  contained  a  nail,  on  the  nail  hung  a  little  copper 
plate.  Each  man  had  his  number,  and  as  he  went  out  he 
took  a  plate  with  him,  leaving  his  number  exposed  on  the 
board.  As  he  entered  he  placed  the  plate  on  the  nail,  so 
covering  his  number.  The  moment  the  bell  ceased  ringing, 
the  board  was  removed,  and  all  whose  numbers  were  not 
covered  were  at  once  set  down  as  defaulters.  He  who  did 
not  appear  once  on  that  list  during  a  year  received  at  its  end 
a  sovereign  as  his  reward.  But  in  the  early  days  of  the 
establishment  it  was  usual  to  give  porters  beer.  This  cus- 
tom Mr.  Budgett  disapproved,  and  to  it  he  would  not  sub- 
mit; but  close  by  the  number  board,  he  placed  another 
board  laden  with  pennypieces ;  each  man  as  he  entered  in  the 
morning  took  a  penny,  on  returning  from  breakfast  a  penny, 
and  on  returning  from  dinner  a  penny  ;  thus  making  three 
in  the  day,  which  Mr.  Budget  considered  a  full  equivalent 
for  beer  and  of  far  greater  value.  If,  however,  the  poor 
wight  was  late,  he  lost  his  penny  ;  thus  paying  a  fine  out  of 
what  was  considered  his  due,  as  well  as  forfeiting  the  reward 
which  punctuality  would  secure  at  the  year's  end.  At  first 
even  a  single  lapse  occasioned  the  loss  of  the  whole  sovereign  ; 
but  afterwards  that  rule  was  relaxed,  five  shillings  being  de- 
ducted for  one,  and  proportionate  sums  for  additional  faults. 
In  the  course  of  years,  the  beer-pence  were  commuted  for 
eighteenpence  per  week  additional  wages  ;  and  then  every 
defaulter  was  fined, — if  a  porter,  a  penny — and  so  on,  in 
proportion  to  rank,  with  every  one  in  the  house,  up  to  the 
partners.  The  post  hour  was  a  quarter-past  seven  :  at  thai 
hour  the  clerks  must  be  in  their  places,  and  one  of  the  prin- 
cipals present  to  open  the  letters  ;  if  he  was  late,  his  fine  was 
half-a-crown.  With  such  spirit  was  this  discipline  maintain- 
ed, that  though  many  of  the  men  chose  to  live  in  Kings- 
wood  after  the  business  was  removed  to  Bristol,  they  made 
their  four  miles  journey  and  many  never  were  late.  Some 


THE   SICK  FUND.  133 

who  have  been  years  in  the  establishment  have  not  once 
been  reported  absent. 

The  system  of  fining  might  easily  make  the  discipline 
appear  harsh  to  the  men  ;  but  besides  the  corrective  to  that 
provided  in  the  reward  for  punctuality,  the  fines  are  so  ap- 
plied as  to  take  away  all  idea  of  severity.  A  sick  fund 
exists  for  "  the  business,"  to  which  all  are  required  to  pay 
one  penny  weekly.  Into  this  fund  go  all  the  sums  accruing 
from  fines.  In  cases  of  sickness,  allowances  are  made  on 
something  like  the  following  scale  : — 

One  who  has  been  in  the  establishment 

less  than  5  years      .         .  6s.  per  week. 

Above  5  and  less  than  10  years      „        .6s.  " 

Above  10  and  less  than  15  years     .        .7s.  " 

Above  15  and  less  than  20  years     .        .8s.  " 

Above  20  and  less  than  25  years  9s.  " 

Above  25  years 10s.  " 

This  fund  did  not  hinder  the  men  from  belonging  to  any 
other  benefit  society,  and  provided  them  a  real  help  in  time 
of  need  at  a  cost  they  could  never  feel.  Of  course,  it  is  ap- 
parent that  such  a  scale  of  allowances  could  not  be  kept  up 
by  a  subscription  of  a  penny  a  week,  eked  out  by  petty  fines. 
The  deficit  came  out  of  Mr.  Budgett's  pocket,  costing  him 
from  thirty  to  fifty  pounds  a  year. 

With  punctuality  comes  dispatch ;  both  are  apples  of  the 
same  branch — both  springing  from  a  sense  of  the  rapidity 
wherewith  time  flies,  joined  with  a  determination  to  accom- 
plish all  that  has  been  undertaken.  Men  who  are  not  punc- 
tual can  never  be  abreast  of  their  business ;  they  talk  su- 
perbly about  not  being  slaves  of  time,  while  time  is  laughing 
at  them,  for  they  never  mastered  it  yet — never  made  one 
week  of  their  lives  serve  the  purposes  they  meant  it  to  serve. 
Time  has  always  beaten  them,  always  left  them  discomfited, 


184  DISPATCH. 

amid  heaps  of  work  undone  and  work  ill-done.  And  they 
are  the  masters  of  time,  while  the  man  who  holds  his  hours 
with  a  firm  hand,  and  makes  each  one  serve  his  purpose,  is 
its  slave !  Very  well;  he  can  comfortably  hear  his  high- 
spirited  neighbour  vaunt  his  liberty,  and  exhibit  his  con- 
fusion. 

At  the  outset,  we  noticed  the  incredible  celerity  where- 
with Mr.  Budgett  transacted  business  ;  but  it  was  not  enough 
that  his  own  deeds  should  be  swiftly  done.  Everything  must 
speed  around  him.  He  could  not  bear  to  see  any  move  as  if 
time  were  plentiful  But  he  never  sought  velocity  by  haste ; 
it  must  ever  be  gained  by  order  and  cool  energy.  Plan  after 
plan,  arrangement  after  arrangement  were  put  in  force  to 
bring  the  establishment  into  the  condition  of  a  machine, 
wherein  every  part  worked  with  equable  and  yet  amazing 
speed.  The  success  was  great.  Every  morning  the  waggons 
start  with  what  is  called  the  "  first  load,"  at  eight  o'clock, — 
that  is,  with  the  first  instalment  of  goods  to  be  sent  out  thai 
day  ;  which  goods  have  been  bought  in  the  sale-room  on  the 
preceding  afternoon,  or  ordered  by  an  evening  post.  The 
morning  post,  as  has  been  stated,  arrived  at  a  quarter-past 
seven.  The  "  second  load"  consists  of  goods  ordered  by  the 
letters  then  arriving,  and  that  leaves  the  premises  at  from 
nine  to  half-past  nine  o'clock.  Thus  the  work  of  opening 
letters,  entering  orders,  transferring  to  the  different  depart- 
ments, weighing,  measuring,  packing,  and  lading,  has  been 
done  in  two  hours  or  so.  At  different  periods  of  the  day, 
load  after  load  is  dispatched,  till  every  order  which  arrived 
by  that  morning's  post  is  executed.  This  is  the  day's  work, 
and  within  the  day  it  must  be  done.  When  the  immense 
number  of  the  orders  is  considered,  and  the  endless  variety  of 
articles  which  they  embrace, — everything,  in  fact,  that  a  re- 
tail grocer  can  want, — it  really  is  astonishing  how  all  can  be 
accomplished  on  the  same  day  ;  at  least  so  it  seems  to  those 


LONG   HOUUS.  185 

who  are  not  "  business  men."  Without  discipline,  without 
punctuality,  without  dispatch,  such  a  feat  could  never  be  ac- 
complished ;  but  all  these  are  made  to  subserve  the  good  end 
of  affording  the  men  rational  leisure,  for  they  are  at  liberty 
the  moment  the  day's  work  is  done. 

One  of  the  oldest  servants  of  the  firm  related  to  me  their 
progress  from  the  old  hours  to  those  now  established.  When 
he  entered  the  "  business,"  it  was  small ;  all  resided  in  the 
house.  The  hours  were  nominally  from  six  in  the  morning 
to  nine  at  night ;  but  it  was  generally  ten,  and  sometimes 
eleven  o'clock,  before  they  could  retire  ;  and  these  hours 
continued  even  after  some  of  them  lived  away  from  the 
premises.  As  "Mr.  Samuel"  began  to  take  a  lead  in  the 
business,  he  would  often  express  dissatisfaction  with  this 
state  of  things.  "  It  is  not  rational,"  he  would  cry  ;  "  you 
ought  to  be  at  home  with  your  families ;  we  might  just  as 
well  get  done  sooner."  As  the  wholesale  trade  sprang  up,  of 
course,  there  was  an  increasing  press  of  work  ;  and  every  now 
and  then  he  would*say,  "  I  do  not  like  to  see  you  here ;  I  want 
to  see  you  at  home :  we  must  get  done  sooner."  He  made  ef- 
forts, and  presently  the  bell  was  regularly  rung  every  night  at 
half -past  eight.  This  was  a  wonderful  relief,  and  the  men  were 
well  content.  "  Mr.  Samuel "  was  of  course  pleased  with  the 
improvement  for  a  time,  but  he  soon  began  to  feel  that  they 
had  not  gone  far  enough  in  the  right  direction.  Presently 
he  was  again  expressing  his  dislike  to  see  them  working  so 
late,  and  saying,  "  I  don't  see  why  we  should  not  get  done  by 
seven,  yes,  by  six  o'clock."  They  thought  this  very  kind  of 
him,  but  quite  impossible.  Before  long,  however,  they  all 
found  themselves  starting  for  home  at  seven  o'clock.  Still 
he  was  not  content :  he  aimed  at  six  o'clock,  and  gained  it ; 
and  then  came  the  change  whereby  the  work  was  done  with- 
in the  day,  and  the  present  result  secured.  By  bad  arrange- 
ments, or  by  employing  an  insufficient  number  of  hands,  the 


186  ABRIDGING  HOUES. 

plan  of  clearing  off  the  orders  of  each  day  within  the  day 
might  have  been  the  very  cause  of  endless  detentions ;  but 
Mr.  Budgett  so  adjusted  his  methods,  that  the  effect  was  a 
clear  and  considerable  gain  to  all.  Among  other  arrange- 
ments tending  to  shorten  the  day,  one  very  efficient  one  waa 
that  none  of  the  men  left  till  all  were  ready ;  if,  therefore, 
the  men  in  one  department  were  behind,  all  the  others  were 
kept  waiting.  Of  course,  they  did  not  like  the  hindrance, 
and  those  who  caused  it  had  abundant  admonition  ;  in  this 
way  the  interest  and  the  influence  of  the  whole  staff  acted  on 
each  particular  branch,  and  without  any  hint  from  the  mas- 
ter about  speed,  the  men  were  sufficiently  prompted  by  their 
comrades.  Thus,  with  an  increasing  rush  of  business,  the 
hours  of  labour  were  abridged,  and  every  man  in  that  great 
establishment  could  daily  turn  homeward  at  five  or  half-past 
five  o'clock,  with  a  full  evening  at  leisure. 

And  why  upon  earth  should  men  in  a  shop  or  warehouse 
be  condemned  to  toil  in  the  hours  which  other  men  give  to 
rest?  Is  it  not  enough,  if  from  morn  till  eve  they  are  pent 
up,  and  on  the  stretch  ?  When  the  bricklayer  lays  down  his 
trowel,  and  the  weaver  quits  his  loom,  when  the  reaper  puts 
up  his  sickle,  and  the  ploughman  drives  home  his  team,  why 
should  the  shopman  and  warehouseman  kindle  artificial  light 
to  witness  further  drudgery  ?  True,  the  bricklayer  or  the 
ploughman  has  heavier  muscular  fatigue ;  but  he  has  also 
the  bright  sun  and  the  fresh  air.  His  limbs  are  more  taxed, 
but  his  vitals  are  more  refreshed.  It  is  one  thing  to  spend 
twelve  hours  on  a  Bedfordshire  farm,  and  another  to  spend 
twelve  hours  in  a  close  shop  or  store.  Within  the  last  few 
years  public  feeling  has  much  improved  on  this  point.  The 
oppressed  class  have  taken  up  their  own  cause,  and  a  cry  for 
early  closing  has  reached  the  ears  of  all.  In  the  higher  cir- 
cles of  trade  something  has  been  done  ;  noble  and  valuable 
examples  have  been  set  by  some  important  houses.  Many 


THE   OIL   SHOP.  187 

have  reaped  the  benefit  in  better  health,  in  mental  feasts,  in 
spiritual  privileges.  I  have  joined  men  in  a  house  of 
business,  both  before  and  after  their  hours  of  work,  in  noble 
and  profitable  exercises  ;  in  meetings  for  prayer,  for  Chris- 
tian philanthropy,  and  for  self-improvement ;  and  one  has 
felt  moved  to  say,  Peace  be  on  the  house  where  men  can 
spend  such  hours,  instead  of  submerging  all  their  waking 
life  under  the  one  turbid,  headlong  tide  of  London  com- 
merce. 

Some  have  heard  so  much  of  the  early  closing  movement, 
that  they  imagine  the  thing  is  accomplished.  Why,  just 
start  for  a  walk  in  the  streets  of  London  some  night  at  half- 
past  ten  o'clock,  and  open  your  eyes.  Take  especially  the 
lower  and  less  airy  neighbourhoods.  See  how  the  windows 
glare,  and  the  shop  doors  gape,  as  if  Mammon  were  sitting 
within  all  greedy  and  unsatisfied  yet ;  and  master  and  men, 
pale  by  the  gas-light,  were  his  slaves,  waiting  to  bear  to  him 
any  morsel  of  prey  that  may  pass.  See  that  close-smelling, 
lumbered  oil  shop,  with  boxes  and  bundles,  firkins  and  jars, 
chips,  matches,  candles,  ill-odoured  paints,  and  all  sorts  of 
unloveliness.  See  the  youth  with  red  hair  and  white  cheeks 
attentively  waiting  on  that  lady  who  asks  for  night-lights. 
That  youth  opened  the  door  this  morning  as  it  was  striking 
seven ;  the  shop  clock  now  stands  at  a  quarter  to  eleven,  and 
during  those  sixteen  hours  he  has  been  there  behind  that 
dirty  counter,  among  oils  and  ochres,  white  leads,  black 
leads,  red  leads,  shoe-blacking,  lamp-black  and  glue,  indigo, 
rosin  and  grease, — among  sights  and  smells  that  never  yet 
made  eyes  bright  or  olfactories  happy.  When  he  leaves 
this  beauty  of  a  shop,  he  will  go  up  into  the  attic,  and  share 
a  small  room  with  three  or  four  comrades.  Then  to-mor- 
row morning  he  will  be  there  again  behind  the  counter  by 
seven  o'clock  ;  and  because  to-morrow  is  the  "  preparation 
for  the  Sabbath,"  he  will  be  immersed  among  his  unloveable 


188  LONDON   HOURS. 

commodities  just  up  to  the  moment  when  midnight  is  pass- 
ing into  morn.  Now,  should  you  wonder  if  those  white 
cheeks  grew  whiter  ? — if  his  poor  mother,  who  thought  that 
when  her  son  "  had  got  a  place  in  London,"  he  was  in  the 
way  of  well-doing,  should  see  him  come  home  next  autumn 
with  death  upon  his  lungs  ? 

You  ask  the  lady  who  has  bought  the  night-lights,  if  she 
thinks  it  right  to  come  to  a  shop  at  this  hour.  She  tells  you, 
"  No,  she  really  does  not  like  to  be  seen  in  a  shop  at  such  an 
hour,  but  she  and  her  husband  were  just  returning  home 
from  a  friend's,  and  remembering  that  she  had  no  night-lights 
in  the  house,  she  procured  them."  But  when  you  gpeak  of 
the  poor  youth  who  served  her — of  his  sixteen  hours  daily 
work,  of  his  cheerless  life  and  imperilled  health, — "  O 
really  that  never  struck  her.  The  clear,  soft,  gentle  tone, 
the  good,  kindly,  honest  look,  tell  you  conclusively  that  the 
farthest  thing  from  her  heart  was  harshness  to  any  mortal ; 
yet,  had  she  gone  into  such  a  shop  at  that  hour  and  seen  a 
son  of  her  own  there,  it  would  probably  have  struck  her. 

Even  yet  the  state  of  things  in  London  is  very  bad. 
The  most  protracted  hours  are  still  persisted  in  by  the 
greater  part  of  the  grocers,  chemists,  oilmen,  and  tobacconists, 
by  the  lower  class  of  drapers,  and  by  the  shops  of  every  de- 
scription in  the  closer  and  more  unhealthy  neighbourhoods 
The  greatest  improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  highest 
class  of  shops,  where,  though  urgently  needed,  it  was  not  so 
urgently  as  in  those  which  remain  as  bad  as  ever.  At  eleven 
o'clock  on  a  Saturday  night,  you  may  see  young  men  in  that 
grocer's  shop  over  there,  where  they  have  been  from  seven 
in  the  morning.  The  summer  air  is  oppressive,  the  gas 
lights  are  warm,  their  work  is  unceasing.  They  will  not  be 
at  rest  before  the  morn  of  Sunday;  and  one  of  those 
young  men,  I  know,  is  a  Christian  brother, — a  thought- 
ful, reading,  upright,  useful  man — one  who  loves  God 


THE  BUSY   SEASON.  189 

and  keeps  his  commandments, — and  to-morrow  he  will  teach 
the  children  of  others  for  love  of  their  souls.  I  do  declare 
it  makes  me  indignant  to  see  him  shut  up  there  at  this 
hour. 

Even  in  the  wholesale  houses,  where  the  ordinary  hours  are 
tolerable,  the  protraction  of  labour  in  the  busy  season  is  really 
horrible.  It  is  a  fact,  that  just  during  the  rush  of  the  spring 
or  autumn  trade,  young  men  are  often  at  work  till  midnight,  and 
sometimes  till  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  After  a  man 
has  been  labouring  for  a  whole  day  in  the  city,  with  its  de- 
pressing air,  with  its  haste,  wear,  and  tax,  that  he  is  to  go 
on  labouring  by  gas-light  from  sunset  to  midnight,  and  then 
to  pass  into  morning,  is  intolerable  ;  it  is  a  pressure  on  hu- 
man life  and  happiness  which  no  plea  of  commerce,  which  no 
mass  of  lucre  can  justify.  "  Business  must  be  done,"  is  with 
some  men  the  whole  moral  law  of  the  warehouse ;  the  ten 
commandments  with  all  the  words  of  charity  flee  before  it. 
But  no  business  must  be  done  which  mars  happiness,  risks 
life,  presses  and  wears  out  your  fellow-creatures  for  no  higher 
end  than  to  avoid  "losing  an  account,"  or  forfeiting  an  order. 
Perish  your  orders  and  your  accounts,  rather  than  one  of  my 
fellow-creatures  should  be  made  consumptive,  or  should  be 
rendered  sickly  for  life  ;  ay,  rather  than  he  should  go  on 
toiling  with  a  heavy  heart,  feeling  that  man  was  cruel  to 
him,  and  tempted  to  think  that  Providence  was  indifferent. 
If  you  cannot  do  all  your  business  without  grinding  men, 
abridge  it ;  better  do  less  than  commit  cruelty.  Better  that 
fewer  invoices  should  be  written  under  your  roof,  than  that 
hearts  should  be  broken  under  it.  No.  power  can  compel 
you  to  undertake  more  work  than  can  be  performed  without 
oppression.  How  can  you  drive  home  and  dine  and  go  to 
bed,  knowing  that  in  the  murky  city  men  are  labouring  by 
gas-light  for  your  wealth  alone  ?  If  "  business  must  be  done  " 
at  those  hours,  do  it  yourself;  break  up  your  own  evenings, 


190  MEN   AND   WORK. 

wear  down  your  own  health,  make  your  own  mother  sorrow, 
make  your  own  wife  droop ;  but  do  not  inflict  all  that  on 
others.  Not  long  ago  a  young  man,  who  had  been  out  on 
an  errand  from  his  warehouse,  went  into  a  room  not  far  from 
it,  and  sat  down  for  a  while  to  rest ;  he  was  overcome  with 
fatigue ;  he  said  to  a  friend,  "  I  am  worn  out ;  and  to-night 
I  shall  probably  be  at  work  till  one  or  two  o'clock  ;  we  have 

been  for  the  last  two  nights.  Messrs. may  be  very 

good  Christians,  but  their  religion  is  of  no  use  to  me." 

The  difficulty  of  employers,  both  wholesale  and  retail,  is 
great.  They  cannot  do  justice  to  their  men  without  a  sacri- 
fice ;  but  the  sacrifice  should  be  made.  The  extensive  mer- 
chant ought  to  provide  such  help  as  would  bring  the  labour 
within  a  reasonable  time.  Now  and  then  men  who  have 
always  easy  hours,  may  work  for  a  night  without  serious 
mischief;  but  not  in  London  air,  and  not  often.  No  man  ia 
justified  in  leaving  such  a  disproportion  between  the  work 
and  the  hands  as  will  force  the  latter  every  now  and  then 
to  murderous  hours.  You  cannot  pcess  men  to  a  point  that 
stings  their  feelings  and  endangers  their  health  without  sin. 
You  should  take  care  that  no  man  is  cursing  you  in  his 
heart  at  the  hour  when  your  wife  and  children  are  going  to 
rest.  You  may  be  liberal,  you  may  be  munificent,  may  have 
fine  points  of  character  and  an  attached  circle  of  friends ; 
but  it  is  a  canker  in  your  gold-  and  a  blot  on  your  name  that 
men  who  call  you  master  feel  the  iron  go  into  their  soul 
To  them  your  virtues  are  all  lost  if  you  do  not  show  con- 
sideration to  themselves  ;  and  perhaps  the  very  gifts  of  your 
liberality  may  be  followed  by  a  malign  look  from  those  who 
think  it  would  be  better  that  you  paid  more,  even  though 
you  gave  less. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Budgctt  shows  that  wbena  master  is  awake 
to  the  duty  of  bringing  business  within  reasonable  hours,  he 
may  effect  much.  In  few  establishments  could  the  variety  or  the 


EVENING   AT   LEISIJEE.  191 

number  of  orders  be  greater ;  yet  from  that  house  the  fathet 
can  go  forth  to  spend  a  long  evening  with  his  children,  the 
man  who  loves  a  book  can  find  time  to  read,  he  who  delights 
in  a  ramble  may  enjoy  the  fields  on  a  summer  evening  (some 
I  have  seen  take  share  in  hay-making  after  their  day's  work 
was  done),  and  he  who  loves  the  house  of  God  can  enjoy  the 
evening  service  and  close  the  day  in  leisure  at  home.  If 
masters  cannot  secure  all  this  without  sacrificing  income,  and 
lowering  their  style,  let  them  count  the  cost  and  choose  deli- 
berately whether  they  will  benefit  their  dependants  at  their 
own  expense,  or  benefit  themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  de- 
pendants. Human  nature  has  its  decision  on  such  an  alter- 
native quite  ready ;  the  charity  which  comes  from  God  has 
its  decision  ready  too.  You  may  adopt  the  one  or  the  other, 
and  according  to  your  choice,  so  verily  shall  be  your  reward. 
That  attention  to  the  comfort  of  his  men  which  was  mani- 
fested in  abridging  the  hours  of  labour,  was  not  the  only 
token  of  his  interest  in  their  welfare.  Every  sign  of  indus- 
try and  of  sincere  interest  in  the  establishment  gave  him 
pleasure  ;  and  he  was  never  slow  to  meet  it  with  a  reward. 
One,  very  long  in  his  employment,  told  me  that  but  a  short 
period  before  his  death  he  mentioned  to  him  some  improve- 
ment which  had  occurred  to  him  for  one  part  of  the  busi- 
ness ;  and  he  immediately  thanked  him,  putting  a  sovereign 
into  his  hand.  When  a  year  wound  up  well,  the  pleasure 
was  not  all  with  the  principals  ;  several  of  those  whose  dili- 
gence and  talent  had  a  share  in  gaining  the  result  found  also 
that  they  had  a  share  in  the  reward.  Stock-taking  became 
to  them  a  matter  of  personal  interest,  and  they  would  often 
enquire,  "  Hope  you  find  things  satisfactory,  Sir  ?"  Surely 
it  must  be  far  more  cheerful  for  a  master  to  feel  that  those 
around  him  have  some  pleasure  in  his  success,  than  to  know 
that  it  is  indifferent  to  them,  because  they  are  aware  that 
however  large  the  cake  maybe  he  will  eat  it  all  alone.  One, 


192  GUTS   AT   STOCK-TAKING. 

after  describing  the  pains  Mr.  Budgett  had  taken  to  make 
him  master  of  his  own  branch  of  the  business,  and  how,  when 
satisfied  with  his  fitness,  he  had  devolved  upon  him  important 
responsibilities,  said,  with  a  fine  feeling  which  I  should  love 
to  see  masters  generally  kindle  among  those  in  their  employ- 
ment, "  And  he  never  had  a  good  year,  but  I  was  the  bet- 
ter for  it  when  stock-taking  came !  Indeed  I  may  say  he 
was  a  father  to  me  in  body  and  soul."  Another  who  gave 
a  similar  report  of  the  pains  taken  to  train  him  said,  "  At 
stock-taking  he  has  sometimes  given  me  a  hundred  pounds 
at  a  time."  He  also  mentioned  to  me  that  on  one  occasion 
he  called  at  his  house,  and  seeing  his  three  children,  said  he 
would  like  to  make  them  a  present,  and  when  he  went  home 
gave  him  a  ten-pound  note  for  each  of  them. 

His  ambition  was  to  make  all  about  him  feel  the  same 
interest  in  the  business  he  did  himself;  and  by  means  such 
as  these  he  succeeded  to  no  common  degree  in  inspiring  that 
feeling. 

A  trembling  old  man  who  had  spent  the  chief  part  of  life 
on  the  premises  at  Kingswood,  spoke  with  great  zest  of  the 
rise  of  the  business  "  from  little  to  more."  He  had  seen  the 
little  shop  swell  into  warehouses,  he  had  seen  the  new  dwell- 
ing house  rise  and  enlarge,  he  had  seen  the  quarry  filled  up 
and  turned  into  a  garden,  he  had  seen  the  adjoining  fields 
enclosed  and  made  pleasure  grounds ;  and  in  all  whereof  he 
discoursed  he  had  been  a  great  part,  for  in  out-door  opera- 
tions he  had  been  a  leader.  According  to  him,  Mr.  Budgett 
had  no  greater  delight  than  to  be  surrounded  by  a  host  of 
busy  men ;  he  would  circulate  among,  he  would  animate 
them,  would  chide  the  idler  heartily,  and  heartily  encourage 
the  worker.  "  Why,  Sir,  I  do  believe  as  he  would  get,  ay, 
just  twice  as  much  work  out  o'  a  man  in  a  week  as  another 
master."  Sometimes  a  lazy  labourer  on  the  grounds  or  farm 
would  be  set  all  astir  by  the  words,  "  Remember  the  gothio 


THE  GOTHIO  DOOR.  193 

door."  And  when  Friday  night  came,  a  stranger  would  see 
a  practical  comment  on  that  enigmatical  text.  In  a  certain 
part  of  the  wall  surrounding  the  grounds  was  a  door,  called 
the  gothic  door,  by  which  the  men  went  out  at  night.  On  a 
Friday  evening  Mr.  Budgett  would  be  found  standing  by  this 
door,  sometimes  holding  a  little  basket  filled  with  minute 
packages  in  paper,  sometimes  showing  an  uncommon  bulki- 
ness  of  pocket.  As  the  men  passed,  a  package  was  slipped 
into  the  hand  of  each,  and  one  would  find  that  he  had  a 
present  of  five  shillings,  another  of  three,  another  of  half-a- 
crown,  and  so  on — each  discerning  in  his  gift  an  estimate  of 
his  diligence  ;  and  "  to  a  boy,"  said  my  aged  informant,  "  he 
would  give  sixpence."  You  may  imagine  that  such  a  nar- 
rative would  kindle  the  narrator.  "  Ah,  Sir,  he  was  a  man 
as  had  no  pleasure  in  a  muckin  up  money  :  why,  Sir,  he 
would  often  in  that  a  way  give,  ay,  I  believe  twenty  pounds 
on  a  Friday  night — well,  at  any  rate,  fifteen  pounds." 

"  But  would  he  give  anything  to  a  man  who  had  been 
lazy?" 

"  Yes,  Sir,  he  would  gie  him  something,  but  he  would 
soon  get  rid  on  him." 

This  was  perfectly  true  ;  he  could  not  bear  a  lazy  man. 
Tact  and  push  he  delighted  in  and  would  largely  reward  ; 
but  if  he  could  not  bring  a  man  up  to  his  mark  he  would  let 
him  go.  The  statement  above  given  on  the  testimony  of  the 
old-  man  is  perfectly  correct,  only  that  the  sum  bestowed  in 
this  manner  seldom  exceeded  twelve  or  fourteen  pounds  per 
week.  But  this  twined  a  sacred  bond  between  men  and 
master, — made  many  a  cottage  glad, — led  many  a  labourer, 
when  he  saw  his  master  in  the  house  of  God,  to  feel  that  he 
had  given  him  cause  to  join  all  the  more  heartily  in  praise, 
— led  the  family  of  many  a  labourer,  as  they  turned  away 
fiom  worship  and  saw  the  family  of  the  master  going  to  their 
9 


194  ORGANISING  LABOUE. 

own  abundant  home,  to  feel  that  they  too  were  going  to  a 
good  Sunday  dinner. 

Even  the  horse  of  a  prosperous  man  is  better  cared  for 
than  the  horse  of  the  struggling  and  the  poor.  But  full 
often  the  labourer  finds  himself  in  an  establishment  where 
wealth  is  gushing  in  amain,  but  not  one  driblet  ever  reaches 
him  beyond  the  hard  wages  which  would  be  his  were  pros- 
perity far  away ; — no  token  of  kindness,  no  gentle  pledge 
that  when  gains  are  counted,  the  instruments  employed  to 
win  them  are  remembered.  With  such  hearts  as  men  have 
in  them,  it  is  not  matter  of  amazement  that  this  state  of 
things  should  prepare  them  for  all  sorts  of  seduction,  for  all 
sour  theories  about  the  enmity  of  capital  to  labour,  for  all 
blind  ambitions  about  organising  labour,  sharing  profits,  and 
equalising  position. 

Lous  Blanc's  elaborate  endeavour  to  organise  labour  had 
not  a  very  flattering  end.  Four  days  of  mortal  fighting — 
fellow-townsmen  breast  to  breast,  beard  to  beard,  shooting, 
stabbing,  stoning, — merchant  and  mechanic,  tailor  and  grena- 
dier, journalist  and  blacksmith,  cook  and  artilleryman,  shoe- 
black and  senator,  barber  and  cuirassier, — the  father  in  a 
blouse  behind  the  barricade,  the  son  in  a  uniform  before  it, 
the  inhabitant  of  the  first  floor  charging,  the  inhabitant  of 
the  second  floor  repelling  the  charge, — boys,  women,  white- 
headed  men,  all  raging  in  one  wild  slaughter,  all  quelled  "  in 
one  red  burial ;" — that  was  the  way  the  national  workshops 
wound  up.  I  saw  that,  and  I  wish  never  to  see  the  like 
again.  Though  new  attempts  to  organise  labour  may  easily 
have  a  better  beginning,  it  is  not  plain  that  they  will  easily 
have  a  better  end.  The  relation  of  master  and  men  is  na- 
tural, safe,  manageable  ;  and  to  make  a  community  of  work- 
ers so  organised  all  our  own  world  admits  of,  you  need  only 
to  make  masters  all  they  ought  to  be.  That  is  no  small  task, 
•lost  surely ;  but  on  any  other  arrangement  of  society  you 


A   FRENCH   CABMAN   ON   EQUALITY.  195 

will  find  a  very  similar  task  at  hand.  If  you  are  to  dispense 
with  masters,  and  propose  universal  partnerships  as  the  way 
to  make  all  miseries  take  their  leave  of  society,  you  will  just 
find  that  instead  of  the  task  of  making  every  master  all  he 
ought  to  be,  you  have  the  task  of  making  every  man  all  he 
ought  to  be  ;  which  in  the  long  run  will  prove,  I  dare  say, 
quite  as  considerable  an  undertaking.  Emile  de  Girardin 
has  no  Gospel  to  preach,  but  he  sometimes  says  a  true  thing. 
When  lying  in  the  Conciergerie,  he  wrote,  ''  The  English 
love  liberty,  the  French  love  equality."  He  was  right ;  and 
in  that  difference  you  have  a  key  to  much  of  what  passes  in 
the  two  nations.  The  English  do  love  liberty,  and  will  have 
it ;  but  beyond  that  they  have  no  faith  in  equality,  for  if  men 
be  free  they  cannot  be  equal  except  in  this,  that  real  liberty 
is  the  only  equality  attainable.  Set  about  making  two  men 
equal,  and  at  once  they  cease  to  be  free ;  set  them  free,  and 
in  a  day  they  cease  to  be  equal.  Equal  in  stature,  in  strength, 
in  health,  in  mind,  in  emotional  enjoyment,  in  power  over 
others,  we  can  never  be.  God  has  settled  that.  And  as  to 
making  us  equal  in  circumstances,  it  could  only  be  effected 
in  appearance  by  most  grinding  tyranny,  and  even  then  would 
be  hollow  and  unreal.  Providence  has  a  deep  system  of  com- 
pensation which  invisibly  affects  a  near  approach  to  equality, 
where  men  are  only  free. 

"Well,  friend,"  I  said  to  the  driver  of  a  cabriolet  cross- 
ing the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  some  time  after  the  republic 
had  been  established,  "  how  do  you  like  the  republic  ?" 

"  Ah !  Monsieur,  the  republic  is  a  very  fine  thing ;  but — 
business  does  not  thrive ;  I  used  to  earn  twice  as  much  as  I 
earn  now :  you  see  there  are  now  no  rich  people,  they  are  all 
gone.  And  that  is  not  bad  enough  ;  but  they  now  demand 
the  republic  democratic  and  social.  I  do  not  quite  under- 
stand it,  but  they  say  we  are  all  to  be  equal.  Now,  I  do  not 
like  that ;  for  most  of  the  other  cabmen  spend  their  money  in 


196  SOCIETY   AND   INDIVIDUALS. 

drink,  and  it  would  not  be  just  to  take  what  I  earn  and  give 
it  to  them  to  spend  so.  1  have  always  been  careful.  I  have 
one  son :  I  have  saved  money  to  educate  him ;  he  is  now  at 
a  college ;  I  mean  him  to  be  an  advocate.  And  who  knows? 
— my  son  may  be  a  great  man.  Now,  would  it  be  just,  in 
order  to  make  us  all  equal,  to  force  me  to  give  up  my  earn- 
ings to  men  who  would  drink  them,  instead  of  keeping  them 
to  educate  my  son?  Why  should  they  try  to  make  us  equal? 
God  has  made  us  five  fingers  on  one  hand  and  hag  He  made 
two  of  them  equal  ?"  Here  he  held  up  the  fingers  spread 
abroad,  then  closed  them,  and  displayed  them  triumphantly 
as  emblems  of  his  social  grades.  "And.  why  has  He  made 
them  unequal  ?  Why,  to  make  one  good  strong  fist."  And 
so  saying,  he  clasped  his  fist  and  held  it  up,  and  turned  it 
round,  to  show  how  much  better  it  fitted  than  if  all  the  fin- 
gers had  been  equally  long  and  thick. 

Now  society  is  one  hand,  composed  of  several  fingers,  and 
institutions  are  but  a  glove.  He  that  made  the  fingers  did 
not  make  them  equal,  and  you  need  never  try  to  invent  a 
glove  that  will ;  you  might  make  an  iron  glove,  and  stunt 
and  hamper,  but  though  all  would  be  distorted,  they  would 
not  be  equal  even  then.  If  you  make  a  glove  to  fit  their 
natural  inequalities,  it  may  prove  that  the  thumb  with  his 
large  portion  is  just  as  much  straitened  as  the  little  finger 
with  his  small. 

I  have  no  faith  in  any  attempt  to  make  us  equal  in  cir- 
cumstances, no  idea  that  our  great  Father  ever  meant  us  so 
to  be,  and  no  relish  for  that  style  of  brotherhood  which  would 
make  me  hanker  to  have  as  much  as  my  brother  and  share 
all  he  earned.  No :  let  me  rejoice  in  his  lot,  and  rejoice  in 
my  own ;  and  if,  after  every  honest  effort,  I  cannot  have  the 
satisfaction  of  eating  my  own  morsel,  why  then,  if  he  is  a 
brother,  he  will  divide  his  with  me.  But  I  would  rather 
burden  no  man.  One  hardly  sees  the  wisdom  of  system* 


SOCIETY   PBOVTDIXG.  197 

which  are  perpetually  telling  society  that  it  must  take  care 
of  the  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed.  Who  ever  knew 
of  a  whole  making  up  its  parts,  not  of  parts  making  up  a 
whole, — of  a  corn-stack  making  the  ears,  not  of  ears  making 
a  corn-stack  ?  Looking  at  this,  one  is  much  more  inclined 
to  tell  individuals  to  serve  society,  than  to  tell  society  to 
serve  individuals. 

If  society  is  bound  to  care  for  one  man  it  is  bound  equally 
to  care  for  another,  and  so  on  till  it  must  care  for  all ;  and 
this  is  the  end  of  every  scheme  of  provision — not  providing  for 
a  section,  but  providing  for  the  whole  community.  If  you  lay 
this  task  of  providing  at  the  door  of  any  collective  idea, — 
call  it  nation,  society,  empire,  or  anything  else, — you  assign 
to  it  precisely  the  same  work  as  God  has  divided  among,  not 
ideas,  but  all  men  alive,  charging  each  one  of  them  to  pro- 
vide for  his  own.  On  this  Divine  scheme,  each  man  has  a 
work  before  him ;  and  the  work  has  not  to  look  to  an  idea, 
but  lies  at  the  door  of  an  actual  agent,  moved  by  affection, 
by  wants,  and  by  example,  to  set  about  his  duty.  On  the 
modern  scheme,  each  man  has  to  look  to  society,  or  nation, 
or  something  of  that  kind  to  keep  him ;  and  when  you  set  all 
the  men  in  a  country  to  look  out  for  society,  or  nation,  you 
will  find  that,  apart  from  themselves,  such  words  represent 
nothing.  If  society  is  to  provide,  it  must  either  be  for  every 
one  or  for  a  part.  If  for  every  one,  then  you  put  universal 
provision  on  a  new  footing,  trusting  to  the  regularity  of  a 
collective  organisation  rather  than  to  the  fruits  of  individual 
industry ;  instead  of  dividing  the  great  labour  as  much  as 
possible,  you  deprive  every  individual  of  the  sense  of  his  in- 
dividual responsibility.  But  if  the  idea  of  a  collective  pro- 
vision for  every  soul  in  a  community  is  not  entertained,  then 
you  only  mean  that  those  who  do  provide  for  themselves  and 
their  own,  ought  also  to  provide  for  those  who  do  not.  Now, 
to  this  we  should  not  object,  provided  those  who  do  not  pro- 


198  INDIVIDUAL  PBOVTSION. 

vide  for  themselves  are  only  those  who  cannot ;  but  we  do 
most  earnestly  object  to  have  men  taught  that  they  are  not 
bound  to  provide  for  themselves,  but  that  society  is  bound 
to  provide  for  them :  for  men  are  so  mean  and  selfish  that 
large  numbers  will  cheerfully  resign  the  noble  desire  to  keep 
their  necessities  from  burdening  others,  and  give  themselves 
up  to  be  fed  and  clothed,  by  whom  they  cart  not  so  only 
they  have  plenty.  And  the  great  Author  of  all  provision 
has  so  ruled,  beyond  the  reach  of  our  control,  that  in  any 
community  where  many  are  indifferent  to  providing  for 
themselves  and  their  own,  poverty  and  disorder  will  soon 
make  havoc.  "  I  must  look  to  myself,"  in  the  sense  the 
world  uses  it,  is  the  utterance  of  selfishness, — a  man  reckless 
of  the  general  good,  bent  only  on  his  private  ends.  "  I  must 
provide  for  my  own,"  in  the  Christian  sense,  is  the  utterance 
of  generosity  and  lowliness, — a  man  feeling  that  he  has  no 
right  to  lay  on  others  a  load  he  should  properly  bear,  no 
right  to  expect  from  his  follow  men  a  better  share  in  the 
common  inheritance  than  fairly  belongs  to  his  efforts  in  the 
common  labour.  The  selfish,  greedy  man  will  look  for  his 
supplies — from  what  source  will  not  in  the  least  trouble 
him, — and  will  grudge  that  others  should  be  above  him. 
The  noble  and  humble  man  will  desire  that  he  should  never 
cost  society  a  mite,  never  cost  another  heart  a  care,  and  will 
rejoice  to  see  the  services  of  others  in  the  toil  of  life  more 
amply  rewarded  than  his  own.  This  is  the  spirit  the  Gospel 
breathes,  with  its  system  of  individual  provision,  and  it  is  the 
spirit  which,  wherever  it  prevails,  makes  a  working,  earning, 
contented  man. 

All  creatures  were  made  by  a  Giver  ;  therefore,  all  crea- 
tures give.  The  dull  clod  gives  life  to  the  bountiful  seed, 
the  grass-blade  gives  beauty  to  the  eye  and  food  to  the  herd, 
the  flower  gives  manifold  pleasure,  the  trees  give  majesty 
and  good  service,  the  stones  give  a  dwelling;  the  air, 


ALL  orm  199 

the  rain,  the  ocean,  the  river,  all  give — and  who  shall  tell 
how  much  ?  The  bird  gives  its  music  and  its  loveliness,  the 
kine  give  food,  the  fold  gives  raiment ;  the  horse,  the  silk- 
worm, and  all  things  we  love  to  mention  give,  give ;  and, 
above  us,  every  star  gives  though  but  a  slender  ray,  and 
every  planet  gives,  and  that  great  sun  gives  so  much,  that 
withdraw  him  and  all  these  others  would  give  no  more. 
And  above  him  is  the  Giver  who  gives  all  these  and  has  yet 
better  things  to  give,  which  will  make  all  these  look  trifling. 
God  is  ever  giving :  He  has  given  heaven  above  and  earth 
below ;  there  given  angel  life, — here  human  life ;  there 
thrones,  dominions,  principalities  and  powers, — here  grace, 
mercy,  and  peace.  He  gives  ever  ;  but  he  does  not  receive, 
except,  indeed,  the  joy  of  seeing  those  happy  whom  he  has 
enriched  out  of  his  own  store. 

As  a  man  enters  on  this  world,  he  enters  it  the  offspring 
of  the  great  Giver,  and  looking  around  on  a  whole  race  of 
brothers,  his  inquiry  should  be,  What  service  can  I  do,  what 
part  can  I  bear,  what  contribution  can  I  give  ? — not,  What 
claims  can  I  establish,  and  what  consideration  can  I  obtain  ? 
What  can  I  do  for  all  ? — not,  What  can  I  force  all  to  do 
for  me?  And  to  a  man  in  this  mood  of  heart,  nothing 
would  be  more  unwelcome  than  to  tell  him,  You  are  to  be 
kept  and  cared  for  by  the  toil  of  others ;  you  are  to  be  a 
taker  not  a  giver.  All  of  the  Divine  image  that  was  in  him 
would  rebel — gently,  generously  rebel.  No,  no ;  he  would 
not  be  a  taker,  he  would  be  a  giver ;  none  should  bear  his 
burden,  he  would  bear  it ;  and  if  his  services  were  of  little 
account,  still  the  world  has  many  wants,  and  he  would  sup- 
ply some  one  of  them.  And  say  not  that  any  man's  gift  is 
small.  He  that  fells  trees  for  us,  is  his  gift  small  ?  He 
that  raises  coal  for  us,  is  his  gift  small  ?  He  that  tends 
sheep  for  us,  is  his  gift  small  ?  He  that  spins  or  weaves  for 
us,  ie  his  gift  small  ?  He  that  breaks  stones  for  us,  is  his 


200  GIFTS   GREAT  AND  SMALL. 

gift  small  ?  No :  every  one  of  these,  if  he  be  "  a  partakei 
of  the  Divine  nature,"  and  love  to  live  not  for  himself  but 
to  show  forth  the  image  of  God,  can  rejoice  in  his  labour, 
that  he  is  employed  under  the  great  Giver  to  perform  a  part 
in  the  universal  giving  whereon  all  happiness  depends.  Let 
the  gift  of  those  who  give  in  any  one  of  these  lines  be  with- 
held for  one  year,  and  all  would  cry  aloud  under  real  want. 
Yes,  my  honest  brother,  low-seated  there  this  frosty  morn- 
ing, breaking  cold  stones,  thou  too  art  giving, — bearing  thy 
part  toward  the  comfort  of  God's  creation  !  Pity  thy  heart 
should  not  have  a  sense  of  the  office  thou  art  discharging  .  it 
would  make  thy  service  proceed  more  cheerily !  I  cannot 
help  feeling  humbled  before  thee  ;  thy  toil  for  our  common 
family  is  less  kindly  than  mine ;  it  is  a  pleasanter  thing  to 
make  books  for  mankind  than  to  break  stones  for  them ! 

Yes,  we  are  all  sent  here  to  give  ;  and,  in  order  to  do 
that,  we  must  not  be  dependent.  He  cannot  bestow  to  society 
who  lives  upon  society  ;  he  only  gives  who  provides  for  his 
own.  Some  there  ever  will  be  who  cannot  make  provision 
for  themselves ;  let  their  kindred  then  be  givers,  and  keep 
them  from  burdening  the  community.  But  if  there  is  no 
kindred  who  can  or  will  give,  0  then  the  call  of  the  commu- 
nity is  clear, — love  them,  relieve  them,  make  them  happy ; 
let  them  not  be  outcasts  from  the  family,  but  brethren  in 
need,  and  therefore  supplied  tenderly.  "  If  any  man  or 
woman  that  believeth  hath  widows,  let  ///'•///  relieve  them, 
and  let  not  the  church  be  charged,  that  it  may  relieve  them 
that  are  widows  indeed."  Is  not  that  law  ?  Does  not  your 
conscience  echo  it  ?  "  He  that  will  not  work,  neither  should 
he  eat ;  if  any  man  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially 
for  those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is 
worse  than  an  infidel."  Put  those  plain  things  together,  and 
if  man  attempt  to  mend  them  he  will  fail.  The  individual 
b  to  work  ;  out  of  his  earnings  he  is  to  eat ;  if  he  has  some 


PEOPEETY  AND  THE  PBIMITIVK  CHUECH.     201 

of  his  own  house  who  cannot  work  he  is  to  give  them  to  eat ; 
if  he  refuse  this  he  is  an  infidel  and  worse.  And  if  there 
are  poor  whom  no  kindred  relieve,  the  church  must  relieve 
them.  The  individual,  the  family,  the  church;  the  church 
comes  last,  and  is  to  care  for  those,  and  for  those  only,  who 
cannot  care  for  themselves,  who  are  not  cared  for  by  the 
family.  This  is  God's  order;  and  you  may  make  fifty 
thousand  other  plans,  but  you  will  never  put  half  so  much 
practical  knowledge  of  man's  heart  and  man's  need  into  your 
long  plans  as  lies  in  that  short  one. 

It  is  plain  from  the  Apostle's  teaching  as  to  what  families 
were  to  do,  and  what  the  church  was  to  do,  that  he  taught 
not  the  doctrine  of  community  of  goods.  The  church  of  Jeru- 
salem, in  its  first  flame  of  charity,  made  an  approach  to  that 
condition,  but  never  reached  it  in  anything  like  the  socialistic 
sense ;  for  though  they  chose  to  sell  and  to  distribute,  "  Whiles 
it  remained  was  it  not  thine  own  ?  and  after  it  was  sold, 
was  it  not  in  thine  own  power  ?" — showing  that  no  law  had 
pronounced  the  community  sole  proprietor,  but  that  every 
contributor  was  considered  a  free-will  donor.  And  even 
this  general  selling  and  distributing  never  occurs  elsewhere. 
The  example  is  never  quoted  to  incite  any  other  church ; 
they  are  called  to  lay  by  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  but  not 
to  sell  and  distribute ;  and  when  this  same  church  at  Jerusa- 
lem has  need  of  relief  from  them  all,  we  never  find  her  first 
course  pleaded,  and  other  churches  called  upon  to  do  for  her 
what  she  had  done  for  her  own.  Had  they  done  so,  soon 
would  they  have  needed  other  churches  to  do  the  same  for 
them  ;  and  when  a  day  of  public  distress  came,  all  being 
without  resources  (which  must  ever  be  the  case  where  none 
has  private  property),  all  would  have  needed  foreign  help,  as 
those  at  Jerusalem  needed  it,  as  soon  as  the  famine  came. 
In  the  passage  above  quoted,  the  Apostle  plainly  disapproves 
the  supplying  of  any  want  out  of  a  church  fund,  but  such  as 


202  FEEEDOM  OP  LABOUR. 

cannot  be  met  either  by  individual  industry  or  family  re- 
sources. 

But  while  utterly  disbelieving  the  theories  which  tempt 
our  working  classes  to  move  for  a  new  order  of  institutions, 
one  is  not  surprised  that  the  neglect  shown  by  masters  gener- 
ally should  induce  a  state  of  feeling  among  their  men  highly 
favourable  to  the  approaches  of  any  one  who  held  out  the 
prospect  of  a  free,  equal,  fraternal  future.  The  substantial 
interests  of  a  community  are  promoted  better  a  thousand 
times  by  the  perfect  freedom  of  industry  and  the  universal 
push  of  individual  enterprise,  than  it  ever  could  be  by  any 
interference  with  the  relations  into  which  labour,  capital, 
and  talent  naturally  link  themselves  as  the  emergencies  of 
trade  may  dictate.  On  this  free  principle,  he  generally  be- 
comes a  master  whose  abilities  enable  him,  in  that  position, 
to  ensure  the  maintenance  of  those  whose  lab  ourseconds  his 
talent  employs  and  augments  his  capital ;  and  they  generally 
remain  men  whose  energies  produce  more  to  themselves  un- 
der vigorous  supervision  than  they  would  if  worked  only 
by  innate  impulse,  or  guided  only  by  their  own  prudence. 
On  this  free  principle,  the  development  of  industry,  the 
race  of  invention,  the  spread  of  international  commerce,  the 
employment  and  the  wealth  of  a  people  are  advanced  far 
more  surely,  smoothly,  and  rapidly,  than  they  could  be  by 
any  artificial  organisation  possible.  But  the  very  conviction 
that  only  derangement  and  want  are  to  be  expected  from 
fettering  labour  in  order  to  foster  it,  makes  one  all  the  more 
anxious  to  impress  upon  those  who,  under  our  existing  sys- 
tem of  freedom,  hold  the  master-rank,  the  solemn  duty  that 
lies  upon  them  to  make  in  their  heart  and  in  their  actions  a 
very  wide  and  a  very  manifest  distinction  between  their  men 
and  their  machinery.  Do,  as  a  man  and  as  a  Christian, 
do  let  them  feel  that  you  are  their  friend  and  brother ;  that 
you  think  of  them,  feel  for  them,  love  them  ;  do  spend  time 


THE   WELL   ETJNNINO   OVER.  203 

and  money  to  make  them  happy.  When  you  prosper,  let  them 
have  some  slight  share  in  your  prosperity ;  better  make  fifty 
cottages  a  blanket  warmer  for  the  winter,  than  make  your 
own  mansion  a  shade  more  splendid.  If  you  nett  five  thou- 
sand on  the  year,  what  great  feat  would  it  be  if  one  thousand 
went  to  spread  satisfaction  and  comfort  around  you? — not 
in  indiscriminate  bounties ;  you  should  not  distribute  as  a 
machine  but  as  a  master,  giving  most  to  those  whose  aid 
has  most  contributed  to  the  result,  and  then  (among  those 
whose  work  would  just  have  been  the  same  and  done  in  the 
same  way  had  all  been  going  to  wreck  as  it  was  when  all  was 
prospering)  choose  the  best  and  most  worthy  to  receive  the 
most ;  but  in  a  day  when  much  is  gathered  let  all  have  a 
taste.  One  year  Mr.  Budgett  expected  that  the  profits  would 
be  large  ;  he  fixed  behorehand  on  a  certain  sum,  and  said, 
"  So  much  will  be  the  well,  and  all  that  runs  over  shall  go 
among  the  business."  When  they  had  proceeded  far  enough 
to  see  how  things  would  turn,  he  said,  "  The  well  is  full ;" 
and  it  did  run  over  a  very  large  amount,  and  many  of  those 
below  him  were  made  well  aware  of  it.  The  receipts,  the 
profits,  the  gifts  of  that  year,  I  do  not  know ;  but  one  who 
was  a  witness  of  it  all  told  me  enough  to  make  me  feel  that 
in  what  I  have  written  above  I  am  not  running  wild  with 
theory,  but  commending  things  which  might  be  done.  He 
would  often  say  to  his  heads  of  departments  and  travellers, 
"  My  business !  It  is  not  my  business ;  it  is  ours."  All 
masters  should  try  to  diffuse  that  feeling,  and  thereby  lead 
those  who  work  with  them  to  feel  with  them. 

It  is  evident  that  in  giving  his  men  some  reward  for 
good  service  he  was  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  see  them 
advance.  This  he  constantly  evinced  in  many  ways.  One 
theme  of  his  advices  habitually  was  that  they  should  push 
their  way  upward ;  he  had  a  wonderful  impression  that  all 
might  prosper,  and  a  strong  desire  to  see  them  do  so.  He 


204  A  LTVTNO  CASH  BOX. 

was  constantly  enforcing  habits  of  frugality  ;  he  would  make 
them  if  possible  save  a  little  and  put  it  into  his  hand,  for 
which  he  would  give  them  five  per  cent.,  and  help  them  on. 
One  whom  he  persuaded  thus  to  put  ten  pounds  into  his 
hand,  had  seen  it  grow  to  one  hundred.  With  his  household 
servants  it  was  just  the  same ;  he  could  not  bear  to  see  them 
neglecting  means  of  making  themselves  comfortable,  and 
would  in  every  way  in  his  power  induce  them  to  save  and 
look  upwards. 

In  personal  intercourse  with  those  under  him,  Mr. 
Budgett  was  extremely  familiar;  airs  and  assumptions  he 
knew  not.  Most  would  have  thought  him  far  too  inattentive 
to  dignity ;  but  it  was  his  nature  to  be  open,  off-hand,  and 
at  home.  What  a  subtraction  from  the  discomfort  of  this 
world  it  would  be  if  all  who  have  grown  rich  were  the  same. 
But  you  have  often  seen  a  man, — a  pursy,  stiff,  important 
man ;  his  clothes  good,  well  made,  fitting  tightly  on  a  front 
person  which  has  a  particular,  contented  set ;  his  lip  locked 
and  slightly  curling ;  his  nose  slightly  curling  too ;  his 
shoulders  moving  under  a  deep  conviction  that  they  carry  a 
momentous  head  ;  and  the  head  not  bent  forward,  not  thrown 
backward,  not  leaned  to  one  side,  but  cast  half  upwards,  half 
sideways,  very  slightly,  as  if  just  commencing  a  consequen- 
tial toss : — there  he  is,  and  whenever  you  see  him,  you  read, 
"  CASH-BOX"  as  plainly  as  ever  you  read  it  on  a  Chubb ;  and 
in  his  presence  a  poor  man  feels  just  as  he  always  does  is 
the  presence  of  a  Chubb — "  No  access  there  for  me  !"  Now 
Mr.  Budgett  never  was  a  cash-box  ;  he  was  always  a  plain 
free-spoken  man,  who  talked  with  his  men  homely  and 
kindly,  and  if  they  were  in  fault  would  lecture  them  sharply ; 
but  if  he  thought  he  had  unduly  hurt  a  man's  feelings,  would 
take  a  speedy  opportunity  of  making  friends  with  him,  and 
if  he  believed  it  due,  would  beg  pardon  of  one  of  the  hum- 
blest. "  Indeed,  he  was  an  adept  at  begging  pardon,"  said 


BUSINESS   MEETINGS.  205 

one  who  had  long  been  close  by  his  side.  And  a  right  good 
art  that  wherein  to  be  an  adept,  especially  when  inferiors 
are  concerned. 

A  habit  existed  in  the  establishment  up  to  Mr.  Budgett's 
death  which  dated  from  an  early  period  of  its  history.  Every 
month  the  heads  of  departments  and  the  travellers  met  the 
principals,  when  all  spoke  freely  on  matters  affecting  the 
concern,  each  being  expected  to  state  anything  which  he 
thought  wanted  to  be  supplied,  altered  or  discontinued. 
The  observations  of  each  would  naturally  refer  to  his  own 
department ;  but  all  the  range  of  subjects  was  open.  By 
this  means  the  principals  had  the  personal  advantage  of  all 
the  experience  of  their  responsible  assistants,  and  these  had 
the  comfort  of  feeling  that  they  could  say  whatever  appeared 
to  them  desirable  on  points  affecting  either  the  morality,  the 
comfort,  or  the  success  of  the  establishment.  All  parties 
gained  light  and  stimulus,  and  all  gradually  acquired  a  feel- 
ing of  common  responsibility  and  common  interest.  After 
these  meetings  the  principals  and  travellers  took  tea  to- 
gether. 

Besides  this  monthly  meeting,  it  was  usual,  after  stock- 
taking, to  give  all  the  men  a  supper.  On  these  occasions 
the  rewards  for  punctual  attendance  were  distributed  t<? 
those  who  had  earned  them,  and  every  man  who  had  not  hatf 
one  black  mark  received  his  bright  sovereign,  which  fre- 
quently amounted  to  a  handsome  sum  altogether.  Thus 
when  the  commercial  harvest-home  came,  the  labourers  had 
the  harvest-home  feast,  and  a  good  practical  stimulus  to  boot 
for  their  future  benefit.  All  had  an  opportunity  of  saying 
anything  that  was  upon  their  heart  to  say. 

When  the  fire  compelled  the  removal  of  the  establish- 
ment to  Bristol,  some  irregularity  occurred  in  these  import- 
ant interchanges  of  good  feeling.  But  Mr.  Budgett  had  not 
lost  the  desire  to  cherish  between  himself  and  his  men  all 


206  A   BUSINESS   FETE. 

the  sympathies  of  friendship;  accordingly  we  find  a  local 
paper  giving  the  following  account  of 

"A   BUSINESS   FETE. 

"  On  Friday  last  the  neighbourhood  of  Nelson  Street 
was  enlivened  by  a  gay  and  busy  movement  in  the  establish- 
ment of  Messrs.  Budgett.  The  annual  festival  given  to 
their  men  was  on  this  occasion  provided  for  them  at  the 
country  residence  of  one  of  the  senior  partners,  Samuel 
Budgett,  Esq.,  Kingswood  Hill.  Coaches,  omnibuses,  and 
carriages  of  nearly  every  description  were  put  in  requisition 
to  carry  the  inmates  of  this  hive  of  industry  to  the  spot. 
Ample  preparation  were  there  found  both  for  the  recreation 
of  the  body  as  well  as  the  mind ;  and  the  weather  for  the 
most  part  proving  favourable,  all  seemed  happy  in  exchang- 
ing the  stale  atmosphere  of  stone  walks  and  walls  for  the 
more  healthy  retreat  of  rural  scenery.  At  three  o'clock 
about  200  of  their  business  staff  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous  din- 
ner in  the  open  air  on  the  lawn  adjoining  the  house,  when  '  the 
good  cheer'  found  a  cordial  welcome  and  a  hearty  dispatch. 
This  being  ended,  the  party  was  soon  joined  by  their  wives 
and  friends,  to  spend  with  each  other  the  remainder  of  the 
day.  Athletic  exercises,  games,  and  other  amusements  were 
then  indulged  in  upon  the  spacious  grounds,  whilst  a  select 
band  of  music  in  attendance  kept  up  the  mirthful  sound  and 
1  made  the  welkin  ring.'  The  pleasure  grounds,  fruit  garden, 
and  shrubberies  were  all  thrown  open  to  the  company,  and 
no  scene  could  portray  a  happier  appearance  of  self-enjoy- 
ment and  social  union.  In  the  evening  from  300  to  400  as- 
sembled for  tea  under  a  large  covered  building,  after  which 
several  animated  speeches  were  delivered  by  the  gentlemen 
present,  among  whom  were  the  clergy  and  ministers  of  each 
denomination  in  the  village.  A  beautifully  mounted  silver 


THE  FETE.  207 

inkstand,  procured  from  Mr.  W.  Hodson,  Broadmead,  by 
the  united  contributions  of  each  assistant  in  the  concern, 
was  then  presented  to  the  eldest  son,  Mr.  J.  S.  Budgett,  as 
a  token  of  their  sincere  respect  and  attachment.  The  day 
closed  too  quickly  upon  these  mutual  pleasures,  when  all  re- 
turned with  a  recollection  of  their  social  and  commercial 
union.  We  cannot  do  better  than  recommend  a  similar  ex- 
periment to  all  who  wish  to  cherish  in  their  business  one 
common  feeling  of  interest  which  ought  always  to  exist  be- 
tween employers  and  the  employed." 

The  Rev.  B.  Carvosso  gives  the  following  note  cf  tho 
same  meeting : — 

"  Not  long  before  I  left  Kingswood,  he  got  all  his  com- 
mercials, clerks,  porters,  labourers,  with  their  families  to 
Kingswood,  to  dinner  and  tea.  There  were  about  400  of 
his  people  present,  two  clergymen,  an  Independent  minister, 
and  two  Wesleyan  ministers.  He  gave  a  lengthened  ad- 
dress which  appeared  to  me  of  an  extraordinary  character ; 
— I  have  often  wished  notes  had  been  made  of  it,  and  it  had 
been  printed.  Of  the  kind  I  think  it  was  a  masterpiece, 
both  for  its  matter  and  manner.  Except  on  that  occasion 
I  never  heard  him  come  out  in  a  set  public  address,  but  the 
talent  then  displayed  convinced  me  of  the  grasp  of  his 
mind,  and  how  greatly  some  had  mistaken  him." 

Now,  what  is  there  impossible  in  all  this ;  and  what  could 
be  more  helpful  to  the  good  feeling  of  the  whole  community 
than  its  frequent  imitation  ?  To  see  all  the  inhabitants  of 
that  huge  store  packing  themselves  into  vehicles  with  all  the 
glee  of  a  festivity ;  driving  away  to  the  country  scene  of  their 
master's  residence,  of  their  own  former  labours  ,  gathering  on 
the  fair  lawn,  round  a  table  where  every  good  thing  abounded, 
porter  and  waggoner,  clerk  and  salesman,  traveller  and  coop- 
er, errand  boy  and  principal,  all  sitting  down  in  hearty  kin- 


208  SPEECHES   WITHOUT  TOASTS. 

dred ;  while  five  ministers  come  to  honour  the  meeting  of 
different  grades,  and  show  the  meeting  of  different  sects. 
Then,  the  repast  over,  the  men  betake  themselves  according 
to  taste,  unrestrained  and  unawed,  some  to  saunter  round 
the  grounds,  some  to  sports  ;  while  the  music  stirs  them, 
and  their  wives,  their  mothers,  their  sweethearts  arrive  to 
share  the  pleasure,  and  presently  to  share  a  grateful  treat  of 
tea.  And  the  principal  and  his  sons  amidst  it  all  seem  the 
chief  pleasure-takers  of  the  day.  But  after  tea  it  proves 
that  the  men,  having  learned  that  the  eldest  "  of  the  young 
gentlemen "  is  about  to  make  a  home  of  his  own,  have  re- 
solved that  the  treat  of  the  day  shall  not  be  all  on  one  side, 
and  therefore  a  pretty  silver  inkstand,  bearing  grateful  words, 
is  presented  with  expressions  that  honour  all  parties,  and 
tend  more  to  cement  all.  Then  good  wholesome  speeches 
are  made  by  one  and  another — master,  man,  and  strangers — 
without  our  national  absurdity  of  toasts ;  and  the  energetic 
architect  of  this  prosperity  throws  his  whole  heart  into  wordi 
meant  to  help  his  men  to  be  wise,  to  prosper,  and  to  gain 
eternal  life.  One  would  greatly  like  to  have  those  words ; 
but  they  are  not ; — they  are  gone,  and  he  that  spoke  them ; — 
yet  mayhap  they  live  in  the  life  and  heart  of  some  youth 
who  that  day  heard  them. 

Now,  those  who  wail  over  the  festal  boards  of  feudal 
times  may  take  both  a  consolation  and  a  hint  as  to  their  own 
age  from  a  scene  like  this.  Wherein  is  this  commercial  fete 
inferior  to  a  muster  of  rough  men,  used  to  rough  deeds,  and 
clattering  with  rough  weapons — men  whose  dreams  are  of 
foray  and  feud.  These  men  of  trade  are  better  clad,  better 
housed,  better  fed,  better  taught,  have  far  more  of  freedom 
and  of  opportunity  to  rise  if  the  ability  to  rise  is  in  them ; 
and  they  are  employed  not  in  broils,  but  in  ministering  to 
the  daily  wants  of  their  neighbours.  They  are  a  better, 
more  useful,  and  more  comfortable  race  incomparably  than 


THE  EXAMPLE  TO   MASTERS.  209 

the  old  wassailers  of  chivalric  days ;  and  that  merchant  may 
look  upon  his  retainers  with  an  honest  satisfaction,  for  he 
and  they  are  doing  a  milder,  worthier  work  far  than  the  lords 
and  the  followers  of  ancient  times.  Such  a  scene,  too,  sug- 
gests the  way  wherein  the  relations  of  commerce  may  be 
elevated  above  that  leaden  materialism  which  too  generally 
pervades  them,  and  imbued  with  some  moral  warmth,  some 
kindred  and  mutual  feeling.  I  have  lately  been  delighted 
to  hear  of  several  cases  wherein  manufacturers  adopt  this 
practice  of  annually  giving  their  men  an  entertainment; 
and  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  recommended,  for  such  cases 
are  yet  very  rare.  We  have  heard  of  mind  among  the 
spindles,  and  do  let  us  try  to  get  some  heart  among  them 
also. 

The  year  after  the  one  in  which  the  gala  just  spoken  of 
took  place,  another  was  given  in  a  large  room  in  the  ware- 
house. The  room  was  decorated  with  all  manner  of  ever- 
greens, devices,  and  mottoes.  These  were  chosen  by  the 
men,  and  indicated  their  varying  taste, — the  religious  man, 
the  man  of  business,  the  lover  of  a  pleasantry.  The  meet- 
ing left  such  a  relish  in  the  memory  of  the  men,  that  some 
of  the  mottoes  then  used  had  been  preserved,  and  were  put 
into  my  hand.  The  first  that  meets  my  eye  was  germain 
enough  to  the  place : — 

PERSEVERANCE 

SURMOUNTS 
DIFFICULTIES. 

The  next  which  turns  up  seems  to  have  come  out  of  a 
practical  head : — 

MAY   POVERTY   BE 

ALWAYS 
A   DAY'S  MARCH  BEHIND  Ufil 


210  ANOTHER   FETE. 

This  is  followed  by  one  which  seemed  to  catch  the  spirit 
of  such  an  entertainment : — 

UNION  OF  OBJECT, 
UNION  OF  EFFORT, 
UNION  OF  FEELING. 

Here  is  one  emanating  evidently  from  a  mind  in  which 
the  work  of  life  and  the  presiding  power  of  God  were  seen 
in  their  fit  connexion : — 

THE  BLESSING  OF  THE  LORD  MAKBTH  RICH. 

IN   ALL   LABOUR  THERE   18   PROFIT. 

WHATSOEVER   THY   HAND   FINDETH   TO   DO, 

DO   IT   WITH   ALL   THY   MIGHT. 

This  I  find  followed  by  one  whose  author  seemed  to  be 
moved  by  the  fact  that  the  gentleman  to  whom  they,  at  the 
last  meeting,  presented  the  silver  inkstand,  was  now  about 
to  bring  among  them  a  wife  and  a  party  of  new  relations,  in 
whose  presence  and  connexion  "  with  the  house,"  all  felt,  and 
with  good  reason,  a  personal  honour : — 

THE  SINGLE  MARRIED, 
AND   THE   MARRIED   HAPPY  I 

Following  this,  comes  one  with  a  specially  florid  border, 
which  tells  a  good  tale  of  master  and  men : — 

THE   THANKS   OF   THE   ESTABLISHMENT 

ARE   TENDERED   TO 
MESSRS   H.    II.    AND   S.   BUDGBTT   AND   <  ".. 

FOR  THEIR 

GREAT   LIBERALITY 

IN  PRESENTING 

£100 

TO  THE  8IOK  FUND, 

AND  FOB  THE  GENEROUS  MANNER  THEY   WISH   IT 
APPROPRIATED. 


THE  SPEECHES   OF  THE  MEN.  211 

And  the  last  that  lies  on  my  table  is  well  worthy  to  be 
blazoned  on  such  an  establishment : — 

DILIGENT  IN  BUSINESS, 
FEEVENT  IN  SPIEIT. 

The  room  thus  prepared  according  to  the  best  taste  the 
house  could  command,  the  men  were  met  by  their  superior,  his 
family,  their  new  connexions  from  the  great  metropolis,  and 
some  other  friends  whose  presence  was  an  honour.  Refresh- 
ments were  plentiful,  tempers  were  blithe  ;  and  after  a  while 
Mr.  Farmer,  of  Gunnersbury  House,  the  father-in-law  of  the 
young  master,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  a  flow  of  good  feel- 
ing was  interchanged  by  all  parties.  The  speaking  was  not 
confined  to  the  "  platform,"  but  the  men  were  called  upon  to 
speak  freely,  and  used  the  liberty  with  both  spirit  and  dis- 
cretion. According  to  their  turn  of  mind  they  spoke  of  the 
hand  of  Providence  displayed  in  the  progress  of  "  the  busi- 
ness," of  the  importance  of  true  religion,  of  purely  business 
topics,  or  of  some  matter  calculated  to  raise  a  smile.  Fine 
feeling,  pleasure,  cheerfulness,  good  counsel,  and  piety  ran 
through  the  whole  proceedings.  Many  a  hearty  laugh  was 
there,  and  many  a  useful  impression.  The  speakers  were  of 
all  grades  ;  the  oldest  and  the  most  respectable  men  in  the 
establishment,  the  younger  clerks,  the  working  men  of  differ- 
ent branches,  and  even  the  boys  being  represented.  One  of 
the  leaders  of  the  house  heartily  congratulated  "  our  young 
master,"  expressed  their  pleasure  at  seeing  so  distinguished 
a  gentleman  in  their  chair,  and  especially  their  pleasure  in 
seeing  so  many  ladies  with  them ;  yet,  the  while,  in  good 
home  tones,  to  which  all  kindly  hearts  echoed,  declared  that 
after  all,  his  own  fireside  treasure  was  not  to  be  bartered  for 
any  of  them.  The  burden  of  several  speeches  was  on  the 
rise  of  the  business  ;  and  over  and  over  have  I  heard  the 
regret  expressed  that  no  report  had  been  taken — a  regret 


212  THE  SNOWBALL 

wherein,  certainly,  I  share.  One  man  had  a  metaphor  which 
appears  to  have  made  a  great  impression,  wherein  the  busi- 
ness was  a  gun  and  the  different  agencies  answered  to  the 
different  parts  of  the  gun ;  but  of  all  his  "  admiring  hearers," 
I  have  met  with  none  who  could  put  together  the  stock,  lock, 
and  barrel,  although  they  declare  that  the  gun  went  off  with 
great  eclut.  Another  man,  in  rich  Kingswood  accent,  said 
that  once  when  a  boy  he  had  come  up  out  of  a  pit  on  a  win- 
ter morning  and  found  the  ground  covered  with  snow.  He 
began  to  rou-l,  and  rowled  till  he  had  a  great  big  ball,  0  ever 
so  big,  till  he  could  rowl  no  more  ;  but  he  called  another  boy 
or  two  and  they  rowled  and  rowled  till  their  ball  was  mon- 
trous  big ;  then  they  did  a  leave  it  there.  The  thaw  came 
and  all  the  snow  did  melt  away,  but  their  ball  did  stand,  and 
after  none  of  the  snow  was  to  be  seen  nowhere,  the  ball  was 
there  a  standing  still.  Now,  Mr.  Budgett  was  just  like  he : 
he  had  a  begun  and  rowled  and  it  grew  bigger ;  then  he  did 
call  first  one  and  then  another,  and  they  rowled  and  rowled, 
and  here  they  were  all  o1  em  ;  every  one  a  rowling  as  hard 
as  they  could,  and  he  didn't  know  how  big  the  ball  would 
grow  afore  they  had  done  rowling ;  and  he  was  sure  that  just 
like  their  ball,  it  would  stand  when  a  great  deal  of  others 
was  all  melted  nowhere. 

Now  which  was  it  more  rational, — to  gather  his  men  and 
spend  such  an  evening  with  them, — or  give  a  ball  and  supper 
to  a  party  of  rich  people,  and  introduce  them  to  his  new 
alliances  ?  Which  was  the  more  likely  to  spread  real  happi- 
ness, good  feeling,  good  principles,  and  good  living?  With 
such  scenes  before  us,  and  with  the  impression  they  have 
plainly  left  on  those  who  partook  of  them,  is  it  not  altogether 
gratuitous  to  consign  the  different  ranks  of  commercial  life 
to  hopeless  alienation  ?  They  may  meet,  may  eat  and  drink 
together,  may  kindle  up  good  feeling,  and  may  thus  form  ties 
which  will  unite  men  and  master,  give  a  heart  to  their  inter* 


DAILY    PEATEB.  218 

course,  and  render  all  parties  happier  in  their  lot.  But  the 
man  who  would  hold  such  festivities  with  full  success,  must 
not  be  a  large  gentleman  who  will  magnificently  meet  his 
men  "  from  a  sense  of  duty,"  and  speak  in  great  tones  of  the 
mutual  interests  of  different  ranks,  and  be  mightily  conde- 
scending. All  that  will  only  leave  things  whe^e  it  found 
them.  The  man  who  would  do  this  duty  rightly  must  do  it 
from  the  heart,  because  he  loves  his  men,  delights  in  seeing 
them  happy,  and  feels  that  they  have  a  claim  on  his  best  at- 
tentions. With  a  heart  so  prepared,  he  will  have  a  winning 
cordiality  which  will  go  further  than  even  the  good  fare. 

The  habit  of  daily  prayer  in  the  establishment,  which  we 
noticed  in  our  first  chapter,  had  existed  from  the  beginning. 
When  the  business  was  only  retail,  all  were  gathered  toge- 
ther as  a  family  ;  and  when  it  branched  out  into  an  exten- 
sive concern,  a  portion  of  the  premises  at  Kingswood  was 
set  apart  as  a  "  chapel,"  and  still  stands  there  serving  many 
sacred  purposes.  In  Nelson  Street  this  admirable  habit  was 
maintained,  and  there  also  a  room  devoted  to  this  purpose. 
More  than  once  I  have  taken  part  with  the  men  in  their 
united  devotions,  and  that  with  delight  and  thanksgiving. 
You  could  not  help  feeling  that  a  better  tone  must  be  creat- 
ed amongst  those  men  by  this  daily  pause  in  their  haste,  this 
hearing  of  the  Holy  Word,  this  bowing  at  the  awful  yet 
gracious  throne.  One  of  those  who  knew  every  joint  of  the 
establishment,  who  had  risen  with  it  and  loved  it  as  if  it  were 
his  own,  (a  feeling,  by  the  way,  which  I  found  more  among 
the  servants  of  that  establishment  than  among  those  of  any 
other  with  whom  I  have  ever  conversed.)  remarked  how  this 
practice  tended  to  induce  among  the  men  order  and  regularity 
of  life,  even  where  decided  piety  was  not  the  result.  "  Be- 
sides, you  see,  Sir,  in  this  way  the  men  get  to  pray  for  the 
blessings  of  God  on  the  business,  and  there  is  a  great  deal 


214  AN   UNEXPECTED   VISIT. 

in  that.  Many  would  like  to  get  to  the  elevation  we  have 
reached,  but  they  cannot  without  the  same  blessing." 

In  the  Christian  Miscellany  for  1847,  is  the  following 
account,  written  by  one  then  living  at  Kingswood,  the  scene 
of  which  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  recognising : — 

"  EXAMPLE  TO  MERCANTILE  ESTABLISHMENTS. 
•Not  slothful  in  business  ;  fervent  in  spirit' 

"  ON  the  2nd  of  November,  1846,  after  a  drive  of  several 
miles  from  the  country,  at  half-past  seven  in  the  morning,  I 
dropped  unintentionally  into  the  extensive  and  busy  ware- 
house of ,  in .  I  heard  singing,  "  the  voice  of 

rejoicing  and  salvation,"  in  one  of  the  upper  rooms.  The 
senior  clerk  said  to  me,  u  Our  men  are  engaged  in  morning 
prayer :  will  you  not  step  up  and  see  them?  Do,  Sir."  At 
once  deeply  interested,  I  ascended,  and  entered  a  room  thirty- 
five  or  forty  feet  long,  furnished  with  benches,  having  com- 
fortable backs,  closely  placed,  and  at  the  upper  end  was  a 
table  and  a  large  fire.  How  was  I  surprised  and  delighted 
to  find  from  fifty  to  one  hundred,  (for  every  seat  seemed 
occupied  with  its  complement,)  chiefly  porters  in  their  white 
frocks,  all  sitting  in  the  stillness  and  seriousness  of  family 
devotion !  At  the  table  sat  an  interesting,  devout  la- 
bourer, giving  out  one  of  our  beautiful  hymns  with  a  tender- 
ness and  pathos  that  touched  my  heart ;  while  the  sing- 
ing was  conducted  with  a  sweetness  and  harmony  that 
charmed  and  edified.  The  Hymn-book  was  offered  to  me  ; 
but  I  declined  it.  After  singing,  I  was  again  requested  to 
lead  their  devotions.  The  Bible  lay  open  on  the  table  at 
the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew.  I  read  the  appro- 
priate parables  of  the  virgins  and  the  talents.  We  then  fell 
on  our  knees  and  worshipped  the  God  of  all  commerce  in 
earth  and  seas  ;  when  every  man  rose  to  attend  the  call  of 


THE  VISITOR'S  ACCOUNT.  215 

duties.  I  felt  it  no  common  privilege  to  join  with  those 
praying  porters  and  devout  clerks  ;  and  the  scene,  so  good, 
and  coming  so  unexpectedly,  I  assure  you,  Mr.  Editor,  has 
left  an  impression  on  me  I  shall  not  soon  forget.  Is  not  this 
an  example  to  all  commercial  establishments  ;  an  example 
worthy  of  general  imitation  ?  Here  is  a  noble  room  for  the 
daily  worship  of  God  in  the  heart  of  a  range  of  warehouses, 
and  the  large  number  of  hands  employed  therein  have  a 
regular  portion  of  time  allotted  them  for  that  holy  pur- 
pose. Nor  is  time  whiled  away  here ;  the  porters  and  clerks 
are  all  required  to  be  on  the  premises  at  six  o'clock  every 
morning,  or  pay  a  small  fine  in  case  of  delinquency,  as  well 
as  forfeit  the  master's  daily  pecuniary  reward  for  punctuali- 
ty. Some  of  the  men  live  four  miles  distant ;  but  the  habit 
of  punctuality  is  so  established,  that  certain  of  them  have 
never  been  once  subject  to  the  forfeiture  through  a  long 
course  of  years.  Precision,  order,  energy,  and  exactness  are 
principles  engraved  on  every  department  of  the  vast  business 
here  conducted.  But  everything  is  '  sanctified  by  the  word 
of  God  and  prayer ;'  and  therefore  it  is  no  matter  of  aston- 
ment  to  those  who  have  faith  in  the  Bible,  that  the  energetic 
and  worthy  proprietor  of  this  exemplary  mercantile  establish- 
ment, in  addition  to  his  having  much  peace  and  piety  among 
his  men,  has  risen  from  small  and  low  beginnings  to  great 
wealth  and  prosperity.  '  Him  that  honoureth  me,  I  will 
honour.'  A  WESLEYAN  MINISTER." 

Ah  !  say,  if  all  the  good  men  in  the  world  went  into  your 
warehouse  every  day  in  the  year,  and  all  the  day  long,  would 
they  ever  witness  a  scene  which  would  make  them  thank 
God?  Would  they  ever  see  anything  to  prove  that  you 
wished  to  teach  your  men  that  they  had  souls  to  prepare  for 
life  eternal  ?  The  blessing  of  which  my  good  friend  to 
whom  I  referred  above  spoke  was  surely  upon  that  establish- 


216  HYPOCRITES   IN  THE   HOUSE. 

ment  in  answer  to  prayer.  Mr.  Carvosso  says : — "  I  have 
heard  some  of  his  neighbour  tradesmen  speak  as  if  he  rose 
by  magic,  and  the  matters  of  Nelson  Street  were  an  affair 
of  legerdemain.  '  He  sells,'  said  one  to  me,  '  cheaper  than 
he  buys  ;  I  know  he  does,  from  what  he  has  bought  of -me: 
there  is  some  deep  mystery  in  his  affairs.'  So  spoke  a  man 
of  business  not  his  friend.  Well.  I  will  not  say  that  the 
spell  of  heaven  was  not  upon  him :  '  There  is  that  scattereth 
and  yet  increaseth  ;  there  is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is 
meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  poverty.'  Joseph  was  '  a  prosperous 
man,'  by  the  peculiar  blessing  of  God ;  so  was  Samuel 
Budgett." 

On  witnessing  the  scene  at  "  family  prayer,"  it  imme- 
diately struck  me  that  a  man  of  the  world  would  expect 
such  an  establishment  to  be  prolific  of  hypocrites  ;  therefore 
I  asked  the  senior  just  alluded  to,  if  he  could  remember 
many  cases  having  occurred  in  the  course  of  his  service, 
wherein  men  professing  religion  had  played  foul  with  the 
firm.  The  question  was  new  to  him,  and  gave  him  some  sur- 
prise : — "  Well,  I  have  been  about  twenty-five  years  in  the 
house,  and  we  have  had  members  of  the  different  churches — 
of  the  Establishment,  Independents,  Baptists,  Quakers,  and 
many  Wesleyans, — and  we  have  had  a  few  cases  of  pilfering 
and  dishonesty  ;  but  I  do  not  remember  any  case  of  that  hap- 
pening with  a  man  who  was  a  member  of  any  church."  He 
then  detailed  one  or  two  instances  of  dishonesty  and  detec- 
tion. At  a  subsequent  interview  he  said,  that  he  believed 
one  of  the  persons  he  had  named  had  been  taken  by  another 
of  the  men,  only  a  week  before  his  detection,  to  a  class 
meeting  of  the  Wesleyan  body  ;  but  that  was  all  the  ap- 
proach he  had  made  to  membership.  This  fact  is  very  re- 
markable :  the  blessing  daily  invoked  was  not  fruitless  ;  the 
moral  tone  maintained  was  powerful  in  restraining ;  and 
doubtless  much  was  due  to  Mr.  Budgett's  firm  opposition  to 


SERVILITY   AND  LAXITY.  217 

all  imposture,  and  keen  insight  into  men.  Had  he  been 
slow  to  discover  or  lax  to  punish  deception,  without  doubt 
he  would  have  reared  a  numerous  race  of  fair-faced  im- 
postors ;  but  under  his  eye  false  pretence  shrank  and  des- 
paired. The  result  is  one  that  religious  masters  should  well 
ponder  ;  every  ruler  ought  to  be  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  as  well 
as  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well.  That  is  the  example  set 
by  the  great  Ruler  and  his  counsel  to  all  rulers. 

We  before  alluded  to  a  system  by  which  Mr.  Budgett 
had  transgressors  reported  to  him ;  and  whether  the  com- 
plaint was  respecting  business  or  character,  the  defaulter 
was  sent  for  into  the  private  office,  and  had  to  confront  the 
master  alone.  His  words  of  rebuke  were  generally  short 
and  telling  ;  but  in  a  grave  case  he  would  take  much  pains 
to  make  a  favourable  moral  impression  on  the  man.  To 
boys  he  would  often,  besides  advice,  give  a  book,  such  as 
James's  '  Young  Man  from  Home,'  or  '  A  Father's  Counsels 
to  a  Son.'  You  may  remember  the  old  man  who  told  of  the 
money-givings  at  the  gothic  door  :  I  asked  him,  "  Did  he 
ever  speak  to  you  about  your  soul  ?"  "  Often,  Sir,"  was  the 
pensive  reply,  as  if  the  tone  reproached  a  too  heedless  hear- 
ing. The  bare  fact  of  having,  in  case  of  fault,  to  go  alone 
into  "  the  private  office,"  was  no  small  poise  against  trans- 
gression, and  this  personal  contact  with  the  master  must 
have  had  far  more  effect  than  any  rebuke  by  deputy,  or  a 
punishment  without  such  moral  application.  If  any  man  re- 
peatedly transgressed,  "  He  will  never  do  us  any  good,  the 
sooner  he  is  off  the  premises  the  better,"  was  the  conclusion, 
and  he  must  be  discharged.  Indulgence  to  wrong  doing  is 
no  kindness  to  an  individual ;  and  to  a  community  it  is  ruin- 
ous. Cruelty  could  not  desire  anything  more  than  rulers 
who  would  treat  good  and  evil  alike.  In  a  community  where 
offences  rise,  punishment  is  not  the  work  of  cruelty  but  of 
goodness  ;  the  suffering  of  the  culprit  being  the  protection 
10 


218  MR.  GASKIN'S  SKETCH. 

of  the  community  from  universal  corruption  and  misery. 
Too  great  severity  and  too  great  laxity  both  show  an  unfit 
ruler ;  but  total  laxity  is  the  greatest  plague  to  which  family, 
town,  or  nation,  could  be  subjected. 

You  will  gather,  then,  that  as  a  master  Mr.  Budgett  ex- 
pected full  tale  of  service, — expected  order,  zeal,  and  in- 
dustry ;  that  he  carefully  trained  his  men  to  the  most  useful 
habits  of  business,  and  strictly  repressed  irregularity  or  ill 
conduct;  that  he  rewarded  diligence,  provided  for  their 
relief  in  sickness,  brought  their  hours  of  labour  within  a 
moderate  limit,  proved  their  friend  in  time  of  need,  and 
encouraged  them  to  rise ;  that  he  was  familiar  in  intercourse', 
and  loved  to  meet  them  in  temperate  but  cheerful  festivities ; 
that  he  did  not  forget  they  were  immortal,  but  took  means 
to  lead  them  to  remember  their  Creator,  to  cultivate  the 
godliness  which  "  hath  the  promise  both  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come."  In  all  this,  has  he  not 
left  a  lesson  which  many  masters  may  study  with  advan- 
tage? 

To  the  Rev.  John  Gaskin,  Rector  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  Bed- 
ford, who  was  for  years  Incumbent  of  Kiugswood,  I  am 
indebted  for  the  following  beautiful  sketch,  which  will  throw 
a  clearer  light  on  many  of  the  points  touched  in  this  chapter, 
and  on  Mr.  Budgett's  character  generally.  The  reader 
will  prefer  it  in  the  free  style  in  which  it  has  been  fur- 
nished for  my  use,  rather  than  if  moulded  into  formal  quo- 
tations : — 

"  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  introduce  my  remarks  by  admitting 
that  my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Samuel  Budgett  commenced 
under  circumstances  of  very  strong  prejudice  against  him. 
The  origin  of  this  feeling  is  not  a  matter  of  importance  to 
any.  My  only  motive  in  making  the  allusion  is  to  do  justice 
to  the  integrity  of  character,  the  amiability  of  disposition, 


PBEJTTDICE  J   AND   HOW   DISPELLED.  219 

the  forbearance  of  temper  which  ultimately  broke  down  so 
formidable  a  barrier  against  close  and  loving  friendship. 

"  At  the  time  of  which  I  write,  and  for  several  years 
afterwards,  the  business  premises  of  the  Messrs.  Budgett 
stood  on  Kingswood  Hill.  I  imagine  there  could  not  have 
been,  even  then,  less  than  a  hundred  pair  of  hands  in  their 
employ.  Of  these  parties,  some  were  under  articles  of  ap- 
prenticeship— youths  of  respectable  parentage,  with  whom 
handsome  premiums  had  been  paid,  and  whose  temporary 
home  was  in  the  family  of  one  of  the  partners  ;  others  were 
young  unmarried  men,  having,  generally,  apartments  in  the 
village ;  others,  again,  were  heads  of  families,  occupying 
houses  in  the  neighbourhood.  You  can  easily  conceive  with 
how  much  solicitude  my  attention  was  directed  to  this  very 
important  section  of  my  parishioners ;  and  how  largely  my 
heart  was  relieved  from  anxiety  on  their  account,  as  time 
passed  on,  and  revealed  to  me  the  extent  to  which  their  best 
interests  were  provided  for  by  those  on  whom  the  responsi- 
bility so  immediately  rested. 

"  I  have  spoken  of  prejudice  in  my  mind.  This  was 
partly  produced  by  the  remarks  of  persons  who,  I  after- 
wards discovered,  had  yet  to  learn  the  motives  which  should 
actuate  Christian  masters  in  regard  to  those  whom  God  had 
brought  under  their  influence.  The  process  under  which 
my  mind  was  disabused  of  the  prejudice  which  had  been 
thus  inspired  was  the  most  favourable  for  all  parties.  My 
first  correct  impressions  of  the  internal  arrangements  con- 
nected with  this  '  gigantic  hive,'  as  it  has  been  called,  were 
gathered  out  of  doors  in  my  ministerial  intercourse  with 
the  families  of  those  who  were  employed  in  it.  I  have  a 
clear  recollection  of  the  very  first  incident  of  the  kind  that 
occurred  to  me.  My  call  was  at  the  dwelling  of  one  of 
Mr.  Budgett's  clerks.  I  had  had  frequent  interviews  with 
him,  but  on  this  occasion  he  was  from  home.  His  wife  took 


220  TOE  TALE  Or  THE  CLERKJ8   WIFE. 

the  opportunity  of  thanking  me  for  the  interest  I  appeared 
to  take  in  her  husband,  and  earnestly  expressed  her  grati- 
tude for  the  kind  providence  which  had  directed  their  steps 
to  Kingswood.  They  had  formerly  been  in  business  for 
themselves,  and  their  circumstances  had  been  those  of  com- 
parative affluence;  but  they  had  experienced  sad •  reverses, 
and  these,  I  subsequently  learned  from  the  husband  himself, 
were  mainly  to  be  attributed  to  his  own  irregular  habits. 
For  months  they  had  been  without  a  home  ;  every  effort  to 
procure  employment  had  failed  ;  for  days  together  they  had 
scarcely  had  food  ;  and,  to  use  the  poor  woman's  own  words, 
4  when  we  came  into  this  house,  we  had  scarcely  anything 
around  us  but  the  bare  walls.'  Mr.  Budgett,  she  informed 
me,  had  promised,  through  some  friends,  to  give  her  husband 
a  trial,  and  it  was  this  which  had  brought  them  to  Kings- 
wood.  '  I  shall  never  forget,'  she  said, '  my  husband's  feel- 
ings when  he  first  came  in  after  having  seen  Mr.  Budgett-for 
the  first  time.  He  wept  like  a  child — indeed,  we  both  wept, 
for  it  was  so  long  since  any  body  had  been  kind  to  us.  Mr. 
Budgett  had  been  speaking  to  him  like  a  father,  but  what 
affected  him  most  was  this, — when  he  had  signed  the  agree- 
ment, Mr.  Budgett  took  him  from  the  counting-house  into  a 
email  parlour  in  his  own  house,  and  offered  up  a  prayer  for 
hinr.  and  his  family.'  In  a  short  time  after  this,  (I  think 
she  said  the  very  next  day.)  Mr.  Budgett's  sister,  '  Miss 
Elizabeth ' — had  come  down,  and  after  a  few  delicate  inqui- 
ries about  furniture,  bedding  and  clothing,  arrangements 
had  been  made  for  placing  them  in  circumstances  of  com- 
fort. Mrs. added,  that  from  the  time  of  her  husband's 

having  entered  into  Mr.  Budgett's  employment  he  had  been 
a  different  man  ;  all  his  tastes  seemed  to  have  undergone  a 
change:  their  means  were  limited,  it  was  true,  compared 
with  what  they  once  had  been,  but  they  were  now  in  the  en- 
joyment of  a  happiness  to  which  they  were  strangers  when 


THE   SCHOLAR  IN   THE   WAREHOUSE.  221 

they  were  surrounded  by  what  they  used  to  regard  as  the 
comforts  of  life.  In  concluding  her  story,  she  remarked, 
'  Mr. always  says  that  the  secret  of  Mr.  Budgett's  suc- 
cess in  business  lies  in  his  true  religion.' 

"  And  Mr. was  right.  Never  have  I  witnessed  such 

a  remarkable  instance  of  a  firm  of  mercantile  men,  being 
guided  by  the  Saviour's  injunction,  '  Seek  ye  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall 
be  added  unto  you.' 

"  As  circumstances  brought  me  into  more  frequent  and 
closer  communication  with  the  heads  of  the  firm,  I  had  better 
opportunities  for  accurately  observing  the  internal  arrange- 
ments of  their  establishment,  and  the  principles  by  which 
they  seemed  to  be  guided  in  every  department  of  its  opera- 
tions. 'The  more  I  saw  the  more  I  admired,  and  the  longer 
the  time  I  have  had  for  revolving  my  growing  impressions 
the  more  I  am  satisfied  that  they  were  fairly  deduced.  It 
was  scarcely  possible  to  enter  the  premises  without  being 
struck  with  the  marvellous  tone  of  order  which  pervaded 
every  part  of  the  busy  scene.  I  recall,  at  this  very  moment, 
the  manner  and  exclamation  of  an  intelligent  youth,  who, 
while  spending  part  of  one  of  his  vacations  at  the  parsonage, 
happened  to  be  with  me  when  I  was  calling  on  Mr.  Budgett. 
On  entering  the  counting-house  I  missed  my  young  friend, 
and  when  I  stepped  back  to  look  for  him,  I  found  him  stand- 
ing in  the  middle  of  one  of  the  warehouses,  gazing  in  an 
attitude  of  utter  astonishment.  When  he  caught  sight  of 
me,  he  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  exclaimed, — 

'  Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est* 

Indeed,  the  most  ordinary  spectator  must  have  observed,  at 
a  glance,  that  every  movement  he  witnessed  was  under  the 
control  jof  one  head, — that  every  person,  from  the  mere  boy 
who  was  nimbly  picking  up  the  crooked  nails  by  the  side  of 


222  SEPARATE  BEDEOOMS. 

a  newly-opened  hogshead,  to  the  sedate  clerk  who  was  sitting 
over  his  calculations  at  the  desk,  felt  that  he  had  a  work  to 
do ;  and,  judging  from  the  intense  earnestness  of  his  manner, 
that  he  felt  also  that  his  interest,  nay,  his  happiness,  no  less 
than  his  duty,  lay  in  his  doing  that  work  well.  If  the  spec- 
tator sought  for  the  secret  influence  which  was  at  work,  pro- 
ducing this  result,  he  must  step  within,  and  get  such  an 
insight  into  the  real  character  of  the  controlling  head,  as 
might  enable  him  to  appreciate  the  sympathetic  thrill  which 
could  not  fail  to  be  caught  from  a  spirit  earnestly  at  work, 
feeling  that  the  work  was  lawful, — that  it  must  be  sustained 
not  for  self  only,  but  for  the  good  of  others  also, — and  that, 
to  secure  success,  it  must  be  carried  on  constantly  in  the  fear 
of  God. 

"  The  influence  of  these  principles  ought  to  have  been 
felt  from  the  very  first  day  on  which  any  person  might  have 
entered  into  Mr.  Budgett's  employ.  The  domestic  arrange- 
ments were  such  that  the  youth,  fresh  from  school,  was 
taught  to  begin  and  end  the  business  of  each  day  in  tho 
privacy  of  the  closet ;  and  the  same  salutary  lesson  was 
taught  to  the  entire  body  of  the  employed  as  far  as  circum- 
stances would  admit,  for  they  were  statedly  assembled  in  a 
private  chapel  on  the  premises  for  morning  prayer.  I  well 
remember  how  grateful  to  my  own  heart  was  the  discovery 
that  every  youth  in  that  establishment  had  his  own  private 
sleeping  apartment,  with  the  express  understanding  that 
this  arrangement  was  made  in  order  that  he  might  feel 
himself  alone  with  his  Fattier  which  is  in  heaven,  when,  at 
suitable  times,  he  might  be  disposed  to  retire  for  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures,  meditation,  and  prayer;  and  well  do  I 
remember  my  feelings  when  first  I  heard  from  within  the 
walls  of  that  little  unpretending  chapel, — now  how  doubly 
dear,  from  the  recollection  that  loved  ones,  then  on  earth, 
but  now  in  heaven,  were  wont  to  worship  there  ! — well  do  I 


LABOURER'S  HYMN.  223 

recall  the  thrill  of  devout  gratitude  to  God  which  came  over 
my  soul,  when  from  those  walls  I  first  heard  the  volume  of 
manly  voice  raised  in  holy  song — 

'F<Jrth,  in  thy  name,  0  Lord,  I  go, 

My  daily  labour  to  pursue; 
Thee,  only  thee,  resolved  to  know, 
In  all  I  think,  or  speak,  or  do. 

'The  task  thy  wisdom  hath  assign'd, 

O  let  me  cheerfully  fulfil! 
In  all  my  works  thy  presence  find, 
And  prove  thy  acceptable  will 

'Thee  may  I  set  at  my  right  hand, 

Whose  eyes  my  inmost  substance  see; 
And  labour  on  at  thy  command, 

And  offer  all  my  works  to  thee. 

'Give  me  to  bear  thy  easy  yoke, 

And  every  moment  watch  and  pray; 
And  still  to  things  eternal  look, 
And  hasten  to  thy  glorious  day. 

'For  thee  delightfully  employ, 

Whate'er  thy  bounteous  grace  hath  given; 
And  run  my  course  with  even  joy, 

And  closely  walk  with  thee  to  heaven.' 

What  was  thus  devoutly  commenced  in  the  retirement  of  the 
closet,  or  in  domestic  worship  on  a  large  scale,  was  followed 
up  practically  in  the  business  arrangements  throughout  the 
day.  A  conscientious  regard  to  order,  punctuality,  and  just 
dealing  was  obvious  to  any  intelligent  observer.  Hooker's 
motto.  "  ORDER,  heaven's  first  law,"  seemed  to  be  the  grand 
prevailing  principle  over  every  movement  of  hand  or  foot. 
There  was  haste,  but  no  hurry  ;  dispatch,  but  no  confusion. 
Every  one  was  taught  that  irregularity  on  his  part  might  be 


224  JUST  DEALING. 

fatal  to   the  regularity  of  another,  and,  therefore,  he  moat 
avoid  it.     PUNCTUALITY  was  another  remarkable  feature.     I 
have  known  the  driver  of  the  conveyance  which  was  sent  into 
Bristol  three  times  a  week  for  the  convenience  of  the  inhab- 
itants on  the  Hill,  rebuked  for  waiting  for  his  own  master, 
and  thus  entailing  inconvenience  on  the  parties  who  had 
taken  their  seats  at  the  proper  time.    Here,  again,  the  lesson 
was  constantly  enforced,  that  the  want  of  punctuality  might 
inflict  an  injury  on  others,  and,  therefore,  such  an  evil  was  to 
be  diligently  guarded  against.     Principles  of  JUST  DEALING, 
also,  were  constantly  being  urged.     It  was  carried  into  the 
minutest  matters,  and,  like  all  besides,  enforced  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Saviour's  '  golden  rule.1     I  have  known  a  young 
man  expostulated  with  for  using  more  twine  than  was  neces- 
sary in  making  up  a  parcel ;  and  another  person's  servant 
admonished  that  the  time  he  was  spending  in  gossip  was  his 
master's — not  his  own.    I  was  once  passing  through  one  of  the 
warehouses  with  Mr.  Budgett,  when  he  observed  a  young 
man  cutting  paper  for  bags  in  a  manner  which  incurred 
loss  of  time  and  waste  of  material.     He  pointed  out  to 
him  the  mistake  in  the  kindest  manner,  folded  the  paper 
and  cut  a  considerable  quantity  of  it  himself,  and  having 
thus  demonstrated  his   point  both  in   regard  to  material 
and  time,  he  remarked,  '  Of  course   it  will  be  wrong  to 
me    should   you    recur    to   your   former   method    in    this 
matter;  and  I  know  you  would  not  wish  to  injure  your 
employer  even  in  so  small  a  thing  as  this.     But  see  the 
injury  you  will  do  yourself,  should  you  ever  have  a  busi- 
ness  of  your  own,  and  not  have  acquired  the  most  economi- 
cal method  of  doing  things  of  this  kind.'     On  another  occa- 
sion I  was  with  him, — he  was  passing  through  the  '  Fruit- 
room'  with  his  usually  quick  step, — when  his  equally  sharp 
eye  caught  the  balance  of  a  pair  of  scales  which  were  being 
at  that  moment  used :  the  poise  was  against  the  customer, 


THE  FALSE  CAST  OF  A  BALANCE.        225 

Never  shall  I  forget  the  sharpness  of  the  rebuke  which  that 
young  man  received.  Months  had  elapsed  between  this  inci- 
dent and  the  one  I  have  just  named,  for  they  were  during 
two  separate  visits  from  Bedford  to  Bristol ;  but  I  imme- 
diately contrasted  in  my  own  mind  the  severe  tone  of  the  re- 
buke administered  when  the  interest  of  another  was  affect- 
ed, with  the  mild  and  gentle  remonstrance  when  only  self 
appeared  to  be  concerned.  I  may  just  add  here,  that  sever- 
ity was  by  no  means  congenial  to  his  nature ;  indeed,  the 
gentleness  of  his  temper  stood  out  in  marvellous  relief  from 
the  general  energy  of  his  character.  On  the  occasion  alluded 
to,  when,  some  hours  afterwards,  we  were  walking  together 
in  one  of  his  shrubberies,  he  stopped  short,  and  said, '  I  have 
been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  my'  manner  this  morning 

with .     Do  you  think  I  was  too  sharp  with  him  ?'     I 

replied, '  Well,  I  confess  I  should  have  been  afraid  of  you 
for  the  next  six  months,  if  you  had  given  me  such  a  rating ; 
and  I  am  sure  you  would  not  wish  any  of  your  young  men 
to  be  afraid  of  you.'  '  You  're  right !'  he  rejoined ;  '  I  was 
too  sharp  ;  I  've  done  mischief :  I  see  it  all.  I  've  not  only 
made  him  afraid  of  seeing  me,  but — '  and  he  lowered  his 
voice,  and  changing  his  naturally  quick  mode  of  speaking, 
he  added  very  solemnly,  '  I  have  brought  a  reproach  on 
Christianity  !'  and  then,  with  a  look  of  peculiar  meekness, 
he  said,  '  My  Saviour  never  so  rebuked  me !  I  've  done 
wrong ;  I  '11  send  for  him  into  the  counting-house  the  next 
time  I  go  into  Bristol.  I  '11  repeat  to  him  how  wrong  it  was 
of  him  to  be  so  careless,  and  I  '11  tell  him  how  wrong  it  was 
of  me  to  speak  so  harshly  to  him.'  Those  who  knew  my  dear 
'  Uncle  Samuel,'  will  have  no  difficulty  in  realising  to  them- 
selves what  must  have  occurred  in  the  private  counting-houso 
when  he  next  went  into  Bristol. 

"  You  know  the  astonishing  influence  which  Mr.  Budgett 
always  seemed  to  hold  over  those  in  his  employment.     The 


226  STUDYING  HIS  MEN. 

secret  of  that  influence  was  to  be  traced  to  their  personal 
attachment  to  him,  and  the  master-spring  of  that  attachment 
was  to  be  found  in  the  living  sympathy  which  every  one  in 
the  establishment,  from  the  very  stripling  to  the  man  of  hoary 
hairs,  knew  he  had  lying  deep  in  his  employer's  breast. 
I  have  found  him  poring  over  the  sheet  of  card-board  con- 
taining the  names  of  all  the  persons  in  his  employment. 
'  Here's  a  task !'  he  would  exclaim,  as  I  entered  the  private 
counting-house.  "  Come,  I  hope  you  can  stay ;  you  're  the 
very  man  I  want ;  sit  down ;  you'll  help  me  essentially. 
I  'm  canvassing  this  list  of  names  one  by  one,  and  considering 
what  I  shall  have  to  say  to  each.  I  must  see  every  one  who 
is  named  here.  Some  I  shall  have  to  commend — that's 
always  pleasant  to  me.  There's ;  he's  a  truly  valu- 
able fellow — always  punctual,  always  correct ;  call  for  that 
man's  books  at  any  moment,  you  won't  find  a  figure  unpost- 
ed ; — and  accurate  to  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  why  you  won't 
find  an  i  undotted ;  what  is  more,  he 's  a  good  man, — indeed, 
you  always  see  the  two  things  go  together.  I  intend  to  make 
that  man  a  present  at  stock-taking,  and  I  hope  I  shall  be 
able  to  give  him  something  worth  his  acceptance.  There 
again;  there's  your  'little  friend.'  His  head  grows  wiser, 
and  his  heart  grows  better  every  day,  but  his  body  does  not 
grow  a  bit  bigger.  Every  word  you  used  to  say  about  him 
seems  to  be  coming  true.  I  sometimes  look  at  him  as  he  is 
standing  before  me  by  the  side  of  half-a-dozen  full  grown 
men,  and  I  think,  If  all  you  great  fellows  were  rolled  into 
one,  the  mass  of  you  would  not  be  half  as  really  great  as  lit- 
tle   .  And  here  's  a  little  fellow  we  have  in  the  yard : 

he  was  in  your  school.  He 's  as  sharp  as  a  needle.  I  hope 
he  will  prove  to  have  good  principles.  I  think  he 's  truthful. 
I  shall  bring  him  out  of  the  yard  by-and-bye,  and  place  him 
where  I  can  see  more  of  him.  If  he  proves  to  be  as  well 
principled  as  he  is  active  and  intelligent,  he  shall  learn  the 


POINTING  OTJT  AN  EXAMPLE.  227 

trade,  and  we  '11  try  to  make  a  man  of  him.1  '  Yes,'  he  would 
emphatically  add, '  it  's  always  pleasant  to  commend.  But 
the  fault-finding  part  of  the  business  !' — and  a  heaviness  of 
spirit  would  seem  to  come  over  him,  softening,  for  the  mo- 
ment, his  sharp,  keen  eye — '  how  I  wish  you  would  relieve 
me  of  this  !  But  no  ;  it  is  a  duty  for  which  I  am  responsi- 
ble to  God,  and  I  will  discharge  it  myself.'  He  would  then 
proceed  with  the  names  which  he  had  ticked  with  his  pencil; 
he  would  continue  his  comments  as  he  went  on,  but  in  a  tone 
intimating  a  sadness  of  spirit  corresponding  with  the  differ- 
ence of  character  which  he  was  now  noting  ;  and  occasionally 
he  would  ask  my  opinion  with  regard  to  the  positions  he  in- 
tended to  take  in  his  reproofs  or  his  encouragements.  It 
was  but  seldom  I  made  a  remark  in  reply,  beyond  one  of 
mere  pleasantry.  When,  however,  I  did  offer  a  suggestion, 
such  was  the  humility  of  the  man,  it  was  generally  adopted, 
and  always  acknowledged  in  a  manner  far  beyond  its  worth. 
For  example : — In  one  instance  he  was  proposing  to  point 
out  a  certain  youth  in  the  establishment  by  way  of  example 
to  another.  I  ventured  to  remark,  that  if  he  did  so,  he 
would  probably  inspire  bad  feelings  towards  his  beau  ideal 
in  the  breast  of  the  boy  he  wished  to  benefit.  He  caught 
at  the  idea  in  a  moment.  '  You  're  right,'  he  said ;  '  I  see  I 

must  not  do  it ;    and  yet  I  am  almost  sorry,  because 

is  just  the  boy  I  could  wish  the  other  to  imitate  j  for  his 
age,  and  the  length  of  time  he  has  been  with  us,  he  is  all  I 
could  wish  him  to  be.  But,  as  you  very  properly  observe, 
it  will  be  an  ill  requital  to  render  him,  by  any  act  of  mine, 
the  victim  of  envy  or  bad  feeling.  What  shall  I  do  ?'  I 
mentioned  to  him  a  method  that  Cecil  sometimes  pursued  in 
the  pulpit,  and  advised  him  to  adapt  it  to  the  case  before  us. 
'  Keep  A,'  I  said,  '  steadily  in  your  mind,  but  don't  name 
him ;  describe  all  the  excellences  with  the  love  of  which  you 
would  inspire  B,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  which  you  desir* 


228  INSIGHT. 

to  provoke  him  ;  only  take  care  to  assure  him  that  you  have 
seen  all  this  in  a  boy  not  older  than  himself.  If  you  leave 
him  under  the  impression  that  your  standard  of  excellency 
is  only  to  be  found  in  a  man,  you  will  probably  repress  any 
little  disposition  he  may  have  to  make  the  effort  you  require ; 
but  let  him  see  that  the  model  you  propose  for  his  imitation 
is  really  a  boy  of  the  same  age,  and  under  the  same  circum- 
stances as  himself,,  and  he  will  feel  and  own  that  he  has  be- 
fore him  a  standard  which  he  may  and  ought  to  reach.'  Most 
warmly  he  thanked  me,  and  added, '  I  shall  make  that  hint 
tell  in  more  cases  than  this.  But  Cecil !  Cecil !  I  've  heard 
that  name.  Who  was  he  V  I  explained,  and  told  him  of  a 
little  book  of  his— -  Cecil's  Remains' — which  was  always 
lying  on  my  library  table.  His  more  intimate  friends  will 
anticipate  what  followed : — '  That '«  the  sort  of  book  I  like, 
sharp,  short,  and  decisive, — order  it  for  me,  will  you,  the 
next  time  you  go  to  your  bookseller's* 

"  I  have  said  how  thankfully  my  relative  received  the 
smallest  hint  that  he  might  turn  to  the  advantage  of  those 
in  his  employment.  This  was  the  more  remarkable  in  one 
who  stood  so  little  in  need  of  counsel  on  this  score.  In- 
deed, he  was  superior  to  any  man  I  have  ever  known  for  his 
penetrating  insight  into  character,  and  for  his  ability  to  deal 
with  the  specific  case  before  him.  He  would  call  a  young 
man  aside,  in  a  few  minutes  draw  from  him  the  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  very  failing  he  had  observed  in  him  and  which 
he  wished  to  correct,  and  then,  having  kindly  but  pointedlj 
shown  him  the  consequences  of  such  a  failing  through  life  if  not 
remedied,  he  would  dismiss  him  with  a  few  simple  but  pun- 
gent words  of  advice — advice  of  such  a  nature,  couched  in 
such  terms,  and  breathed  in  such  a  spirit,  that  it  would  pro- 
bably never  be  forgotten.  The  diffident  and  desponding 
would  leave  his  presence  encouraged  and  cheered  ;  the  vain 
And  conceited  would  return  to  the  counter  or  the  desk  hum- 


.:    ADMONITIONS.  229 

bled ;  and  yet  each  would  equally  feel  that  he  had  a  friend 
in  his  master,  capable  of  appreciating,  ready  to  approve 
worth  of  the  lowliest  and  most  unobtrusive  kind,  but  no  less 
skilled  in  detecting  and  faithful  to  rebuke  the  smallest  de- 
linquency. In  some  instances  he  seemed  to  create, — I  need 
hardly  remark  that  I  use  the  word  in  its  qualified  sense, — 
he  seemed  to  create  the  very  virtue  he  wished  to  promote  by 
giving  a  youth  credit  for  it,  and  to  crush  the  very  vice  he  de- 
plored by  leading  one  to  suppose  that  he  thought  him  in- 
tapable  of  indulging  it.  And  all  this,  I  am  most  entirely 
persuaded,  was  done  with  such  simplicity  of  heart  and  such 
singleness  of  eye,  that  he  might  have  justified  himself  in 
the  spirit  and  the  very  words  of  the  Apostle, '  Being  crafty, 
I  caught  you  with  guile.' 

"  I  shall  add  a  few  words  on  another  point,  illustrative  of 
the  deep  interest  which  Mr.  Budgett  cherished  towards 
those  he  employed  in  regard  to  the  comfort  of  their  homes, 
the  vigilance  with  which  he  would  observe  and  read  the  very 
countenance  of  a  man  when  once  he  became  apprehensive 
that  he  was  in  trouble,  and  the  delicacy  and  tact  with  which 
he  would  reach  the  truth  and  apply  the  necessary  aid.  In 
these  particulars  it  is  probable  that  I  knew  more  of  him  than 
any  one  beyond  his  own  family,  during  the  whole  period  of 
my  residence  at  Kingswood.  Many  of  his  frequent,  hasty 
visits  to  the  parsonage  were  on  errands  of  love  of  this  par- 
ticular kind.  I  was  often  his  almoner — with  a  strict  injunc- 
tion that  no  reference  should  be  made  to  him  in  the  matter — 
where  he  wished  to  send  relief  to  some  unhappy  family,  the 
head  of  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  discard.  He  would 
sometimes — especially  if  he  thought  he  had  placed  me  in  a 
difficulty — run  back  to  me  in  the  library  after  he  had  reach- 
ed the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  to  remind  me  that  the  money  he 
had  placed  in  my  hands  '  the  last  time  he  had  seen  me '  was 
my  own,  that  I  was  to  do  whatever  /  thought  proper  with 


230  SECRET  BEXEVOLENCE. 

it ;  in  a  word,  that  '  Samuel  Budgett  had  no  more  right  or 
control  over  it  than  Maurice  Britten,  Jack  Rawbones,  or  old 
Bedlio.'  But  the  real  interest  he  felt  in  a  case  of  which  he 
thus  professed  to  have  washed  his  hands  was  seen  when,  on 
the  next  occasion  of  our  meeting,  he  would  inquire  into  the 
minutest  particulars  of  the  interview.  I  remember  one  case 
in  which  he  had  met  with  the  greatest  annoyance,  and  in 
which  we  had  every  reason  to  believe  there  had  been  an  at- 
tempt to  injure  the  commercial  credit  of  the  firm ;  when  I 
described  to  him  the  excitement  of  the  party  on  receiving 
his  bounty,  supposing  that  it  had  come  from  myself,  he  wept 
even  to  the  audible  sob,  and  almost  in  an  agony  expressed 
his  wish  that  he  'dared  to  make  the  family  happy  ty  taking 
the  poor  fellow  into  his  confidence  again.'  Shortly  after  I 
came  to  reside  at  Bedford,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  person 
in  his  employment,  explaining  to  me  the  difficulties  in  which 
he  found  himself  from  circumstances  which  he  could  not 
control,  and  asking  my  advice.  The  letter  reached  me 
when  I  was  on  a  bed  of  sickness.  I  felt  that  the  most  direct 
mode  of  assisting  him  was  to  communicate  the  facts  to  his 
master.  I  therefore  simply  inclosed  the  letter  in  an  en- 
velope to  '  Uncle  Samuel,'  only  expressing  my  conviction 
of  the  respect  he  had  for  the  writer  as  a  man  of  real 
worth  and  integrity,  and  my  assurance  that  his  case  was 
in  proper  hands  the  moment  it  reached  the  private  counting- 
house  in  Nelson-street.  In  a  few  days  afterwards,  I  received 
a  second  letter  from  the  party,  telling  me,  in  terms  truly 
touching,  that  Mr.  Budgett  had  called  him  aside,  made 
him  take  a  seat,  and  asked  him  to  tell  him  all  that 
was  jn  his  heart..  To  be  brief — the  tale  of  sorrow  had 
been  told,  and  the  sad  heart  had  been  relieved  to  its  full 
content. 

"  On  the  very  last  visit  I  paid  my  dear  relative,  we  were 
in  his  library,  and  our  attention  was  called  to  a  poor  man  in 


HELPING   HIS   OWN   MEN.  231 

whom  I  felt  an  interest,  by  some  object  of  his  craft  that 
caught  the  eye.  '  Poor  fellow  !'  said  Uncle  Samuel, '  he  has 
been  in  sad  trouble ;  but,'  with  his  brilliant  smile  he  added, 
'  he  is  out  of  it  all  now ;  he  is  as  happy  as  a  prince ;  his 
house  is  as  nice  as  a  new  penny,  and  his  face  as  cheerful  as  a 
harvest  moon  !'  He  then  told  me  that  he  had  observed  the 
poor  fellow  looking  very  melancholy,  so  much  so  at  last  that 
his  heart  quite  ached  as  he  passed  him  in  the  yard.  He  sent 
for  him  into  the  counting-house,  and  after  he  had  made  him 
feel  a  little  at  ease,  had  drawn  out  of  him  all  his  troubles. 
The  sickness  of  his  wife  had  entangled  him  in  debt ;  he 
could  not  eat,  he  could  not  sleep  ;  his  life  was  a  misery  to 
him,  and  he  had  exclaimed  with  a  pathos  that  sunk  deep  into 
my  dear  relative's  tender  heart,  '  Master,  I  am  in  debt ; 
every  time  I  go  near  the  river,  something  bids  me  fling 
myself  into  it,  telling  me  there's  water  enough  to  rid  me 
of  all  my  troubles,  and  that  if  I  don't  I  shall  be  sent 
into  the  prison  there  for  debt !' 

"  Deeply  affected,  he  inquired  of  the  poor  man  the  name 
of  his  creditors,  the  amount  of  their  respective  claims,  and 
the  peculiar  circumstances  which  had  led  to  the  contraction 
of  each  liability.  Having  ascertained  these  particulars,  and 
perfectly  satisfied  himself  that  the  man  had  not  forgotten 
the  precept  of  the  society  of  which  he  was  a  member, — 
'  Not  to  contract  debt  without  at  least  a  reasonable  prospect 
of  discharging  it,' — he  asked  him  whether  freedom  from  these 
liabilities  would  restore  to  him  peace  of  mind.  The  ques- 
tion was  answered  by  a  sort  of  sickly  smile,  which  seemed 
to  indicate  a  perfect  despair  of  such  a  consummation.  '  Well, 
come,'  said  the  master,  '  I  don't  think  things  are  quite  so 
bad,  —  — ,  as  they  appear  to  be  to  you.  See  here,  my 
poor  fellow,  you  owe  —  —  pounds :  it's  a  very  large  sum 
for  a  man  like  you,  to  be  sure  ;  and  if  you  had  run  into  debt 
to  anything  like  this  amount  through  extravagance,  or  even 


THE   MASTER   HELPING  THE  MAlf. 

thoughtlessness,  I  should  have  regarded  it  as  an  act  of  dis- 
honesty on  your  part,  and  I  might  have  felt  it  right  to  dis- 
charge you.  But  you  are  to  be  pitied,  and  not  to  be  blamed. 
Cold  pity  alone  goes  for  nothing,  so  let  us  see  how  you  can 
be  helped  out  of  your  troubles.  Now,  do  you  think  your 
creditors,  considering  all  the  circumstances,  would  take 
one  half,  and  be  satisfied?  Here's  Dr.  Edwards — hia 
bill  is  the  heaviest ;  if  we  can  get  him  to  take  one  half — ' 
'  One  half,  master  !'  exclaimed  the  poor  man,  '  but  if  they 
would  take  half,  where's  the  money  to  come  from?  I 
'arn't  got  a  shilling  in  the  world  but  what's  coming  to  me 
Friday  night ;  and  when  I  take  my  wages  now,  I  'arn't  any 
pleasure  in  looking  at  the  money,  because  it  'arn't  my  own  ; 
it  should  go  to  pay  my  debts,  and  I'm  obliged  to  use  it  to 
buy  victuals.  I  think  in  my  heart  I  shall  ne'er  be  happy 
again.'  Still  more  sensibly  affected  by  the  poor  man's  man- 
ner the  longer  the  interview  lasted,  my  kind-hearted  relative 
begged  him  not  to  distress  himself  any  more  ;  he  said  that 
a  friend  of  his  had  given  him  a  sum  that  was  quite  equal 
to  one  half  his  debts,  bade  him  return  to  his  work,  order  a 
horse  to  be  put  into  harness  as  he  passed  through  the  yard, 
and  brought  round  in  ten  minutes  ;  and  told  him  to  be  sure 
to  make  himself  as  happy  as  he  could  till  he  saw  him  again. 
He  immediately  drove  round  to  every  creditor  the  poor  man 
had,  compounded  with  them  for  their  respective  claims,  and 
obtained  their  receipts  in  full  discharge.  On  his  return,  the 
poor  man's  state  of  bewilderment  was  indescribable.  He 
watched  his  master  unfold  the  receipts  one  by  one  without 
uttering  a  syllable,  and  when  they  were  put  into  his  band  he 
clutched  them  with  a  sort  of  convulsive  grasp,  but  still  not 
a  word  escaped  him.  At  length  he  exclaimed,  '  But  master, 
where's  the  money  come  from  ?'  '  Never  do  you  mind  that, 

,'  was  the  reply ;  '  go  home  and  tell  your  wife  you 

are  out  of  debt,  you  are  an  independent  man.     I  only  hope 


THE   GEEAT   FEIEND.  233 

the  creditors  have  felt  something  of  the  satisfaction  in  for- 
giving you  one  half  your  debt  to  them,  that  we  know  God 
feels  in  forgiving  our  debts  to  him  for  Christ's  sake  ;  I  have 
said  that  much  to  all  of  them.'  But  the  puzzling  question 
had  not  yet  been  answered,  and  again  it  was  .put, — '  But 
master,  where's  the  money  come  from  ?'  '  Well,  well ;  I  told 
you  a  FRIEND  had  given  it  to  me  for  you.  You  know  that 
Friend  as  well  as  I  do  ; — there  now,  you  may  leave  your 
work  for  to-day ;  go  home  to  your  wife,  and  thank  that 
Friend  together  for  making  you  an  independent  man.  But 

stay, ,  I  had  almost  forgotten  one  thing.     I  called  to 

see  Mr.  P as  I  drove  through  Stoke's  Croft ;  I  told 

him  the  errand  that  had  carried  me  away  from  home  all  day, 
and  he  gave  me  a  sovereign  for  you  to  begin  the  world  with.1 
The  poor  fellow  was  too  much  affected  to  say  anything 
more.  The  next  morning,  however,  he  appeared  again,  but 
after  a  most  complete  failure  in  a  valorous  attempt  he 
made  to  express  his  thanks,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
counting-house,  stammering  out  that  '  both  he  and  his  wife 
felt  their  hearts  to  be  as  light  as  a  feather.'  '  What  a  luxury 
there  is  in  trying  to  make  a  man  happy  !'  said  Mr.  Budgett, 
when  he  had  finished  his  story ;  and  I  am  sure  he  found 
it  so  at  all  times.  It  must  be  remarked,  also,  that  an 
act  like  this  was  not,  with  him,  one  of  mere  munificence — 
a  gift  out  of  abundance  which  would  never  be  missed ;  it 
was  one  of  pure  benevolence — it  was  cordial,  it  reached 
every  sensibility  of  his  heart,  and  he  would  spare  neither 
trouble  nor  fatigue  till  he  had  accomplished  his  object.  One 
other  remark,  and  I  have  done.  An  incident  of  this  kind 
was  never  related  by  my  relative  from  any  feeling  of  vanity ; 
he  knew  that  the  relation  of  it  would  gratify  me  or  the  few 
friends  to  whom  he  might  mention  it  in  the  confidence  of 
social  intercourse,  and  his  own  heart  seemed  to  revel  in  the 
renewed  pleasure  it  gave  him  to  picture  to  himself  afresh 


THE  LUXUKT  OF  DOING  GOOD. 

the  joy  which  had  been  occasioned  to  a  fellow-creature  whom 
he  had  thus  been  permitted  to  assist.  He  would  fervently 
bless  God  who  had  given  him  the  ability  '  to  do  good  unto 
all  men,  but  especially  to  them  who  are  of  the  household  of 
faith :'  and  truly,  he  loved  *  to  bear  another's  burdens,"  to 
'  mind  not '  merely  l  his  own  things,  but  also  the  things  of 
another.' " 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IN     HIS     OWN     NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

"Wonldst  them  be  rich,  giro  unto  the  poor,  thou  shalt  hare  thine  own  with 

usury: 

For  the  secret  hand  of  Providence  prospereth  the  charitable  all  ways; 
Good  luck  shall  he  have  in  his  pursuits,  and  his  heart  shall  be  glad  within 

him; 

Tet  perchance  he  never  shall  perceive,  that  even  as  to  earthly  gains, 
The  cause  of  his  weal,  as  of  his  joy,  hath  been  small  givings  to  the  poor." 

TUPPKB. 

UNTIL  an  incredibly  recent  date,  the  neighbourhood  of 
Kingswood  was  uncivilised  and  lawless.  When  Mr.  Budgctt 
first  came  there  his  brother  had  begun  to  war  against  its  bar- 
barism. The  place  is  singular :  it  does  not  form  a  town,  nor 
yet  a  group  of  villages  ;  but  over  an  extended  surface  of  un- 
dulating and  naturally  beautiful  ground  you  have  an  endless 
labyrinth  of  lanes — turning,  winding,  intersecting,  branching 
in  all  directions ;  so  that  if  a  stranger  set  out  to  walk  three 
miles,  he  would  probably  spend  a  day  in  the  journey  without 
a  guide.  By  the  sides  of  these  lanes  lie  the  cottages,  some 
of  which  are  comfortable,  but  the  greater  part,  and  especially 
the  older  ones,  very  wretched.  About  a  mile  from  Mr.  Bud- 
gett's  house  lies  a  place  called  Cock  Road,  in  commemoration 
of  its  game  cocks.  This  was  a  den  of  robbers  who  lived  only 
by  plunder, — sallying  out  to  Bristol,  Bath,  Gloucester,  Here- 
ford, and  even  as  far  as  Manchester.  Hundreds  of  persons 
are  living  who  remember  when  it  was  unsafe  to  pass  alone  in 


236  COCK   EOAD. 

the  open  day.  One  told  me  that  he  had  seen  farmers  come 
with  constables  on  search  for  lost  property,  and  their  own 
pigs  were  displayed  dead  before  their  eyes,  while  the  robbers 
laughed  in  their  face  ;  but  they  dare  not  touch  them,  and 
could  not  identify  the  pigs,  as  they  were  skinned.  William 
Lintern,  an  old  inhabitant  of  the  place  and  a  fellow  labourer 
of  Mr.  Budgett's,  says  that  one  of  his  earliest  recollections 
is  of  paying  a  penny  to  see  two  brothers,  who  had  been  hung, 
lying  in  their  coffin ;  for  the  bodies  had  been  given  up  to 
their  relations,  and  they  turned  them  to  account  by  making 
them  a  show  !  In  this  family  were,  I  think,  five  sons  and 
one  daughter ;  two  sons  were  hanged,  three  transported,  and 
the  daughter  had  three  successive  husbands,  who  were  all 
transported  too. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Budgett,  with  great  public  spirit,  addressed 
himself  to  the  dangerous  task  of  subduing  this  tribe  of  ma- 
rauders. For  a  time  he  struggled  alone,  but  he  eventually 
obtained  co-operation  and  the  ringleaders  were  punished,  the 
rest  kept  in  check.  A  Bristol  paper,  speaking  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Budgett's  death,  says : — 

"  Not  many  years  since,  Kingswood  was  known  as  the 
haunt  of  some  of  the  most  depraved  and  desperate  race  of 
men  living,  often  becoming  a  pest  and  annoyance  to  this  city. 
At  that  time  the  elder  brother  of  the  firm  commenced  busi- 
ness there.  He  for  many  years  stood  alone,  though  con- 
stantly harassed  by  the  fear,  as  well  as  on  one  or  two  occa- 
sions actually  exposed  to  the  attack,  of  these  lawless  ruffians. 
His  endeavours  to  produce  a  change  were  seconded  by  a 
few  liberal  and  judicious  individuals  of  the  city  and  neigh- 
bourhood, so  that  the  most  notorious  offenders  were  either 
detected  or  driven  out  of  their  hiding-places.  It  was  not 
possible,  however,  to  eradicate  the  rude  and  vicious  elements 
which  hovered  round  this  district.  But  since  the  erection  of 
the  church,  the  building  of  two  or  three  places  of  worship, 


THE   COCK-BOADITES.  237 

the  opening  of  several  schools  by  various  denominations,  (in 
most  of  which  the  late  firm  took  a  liberal  and  active  part,) 
many  of  those  evils  have  been  subdued,  and  much  good  has 
been  accomplished.  By  a  benevolence  thus  unsectarian  in 
feeling,  though  in  matters  of  opinion  joining  in  preference 
to  the  old  Wesleyan  body,  his  good  name  and  deeds  will  long 
be  fragrant  in  the  memory  of  this  locality." 

The  Cock-Roadites  as  they  were  called,  were  a  universal 
terror ;  and  a  book,  detailing  the  operations  of  "  The  Bristol 
Methodist  Sunday  School  Society,"  which  Wm.  Lintern 
kindly  lent  me,  shows  that  it  was  considered  a  feat  when  a 
echool  was  formed  in  their  vicinity  and  filled  with  their  chil- 
dren. That  good  work  was  begun  by  Mr.  Henry  Budgett ; 
and  co-operation  in  it  was  one  of  the  first  efforts  of  his  bro- 
ther for  the  good  of  the  neighbourhood.  The  school  was 
opened  in  July,  1812,  when  he  was  about  eighteen ;  and  the 
first  day,  to  their  surprise,  seventy-five  children  came,  of 
whom  fifty-eight  did  not  know  the  alphabet.  The  entry  in 
the  book  of  the  committee  is  curious : — "  Many  of  these, 
children  of  the  first-rate  characters  in  the  singularly  noto- 
rious tribe  of  Cock-roadites,  some  of  whose  fathers  are  now 
in  prison — many  of  these  poor  children,  with  their  parents, 
are  entirely  dependent  on  a  system  of  robbery  and  plunder 
for  their  support."  The  school  throve  ;  a  school-house  must 
be  built ;  and  in  calling  for  subscriptions,  the  committee  gave 
the  following  character  of  the  place  : — 

"  Cock  Road,  a  place  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Bristol, 
has  been  from  time  immemorial,  and  still  is,  inhabited  by 
persons,  the  majority  of  whom  are  notorious  for  robbery, 
plunder,  and  all  kinds  of  illicit  practices  ;  daring  and  sys- 
tematic in  their  proceedings  beyond  description,  they  trample 
with  impunity  upon  all  laws,  human  and  divine,  set  at  de- 
fiance every  principle  of  justice,  make  themselves  a  terror  to 


238  NATURE  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  surrounding  neighbourhood ;  and  this  within  four  mile* 
of  the  second  city  in  the  empire." 

Labouring  among  these  children  of  robbers,  Mr.  Budgett 
spent  the  Sundays  of  his  riper  youth.  I  was  at  that  school 
the  first  Sunday  after  his  funeral,  and  heard  much  of  his 
toils  and  zeal.  "  A  gracious  man  !"  said  his  old  coadjutor, 
already  named.  "  a  gracious  man  !  0,  how  he  would  labour  ! 
All  that  he  did  will  never  be  told."  His  duty  in  those  early 
days  was  to  visit  the  absentees,  and  bring  them,  if  practica- 
ble, to  school.  To  get  over  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
ground,  he  would  bring  a  pony  and  dash  about  from  cottage 
to  cottage  among  the  lanes  ;  he  would  talk  to  the  people, 
kneel  down  and  pray  with  them,  stir  them  up  to  send  their 
children  to  school,  and  then  away.  Thus,  often,  he  would 
pass  a  Sunday  without  dinner ;  sometimes,  perhaps,  getting 
a  morsel  of  bacon  or  a  potato  in  a  cottage  where  he  called. 
"  And  he  often  told  me  these  were  the  happiest  days  of  his 
life,  the  Sundays  he  spent  that  way." 

Some  delight  to  tell  us  of  the  power  of  nature  to  mould 
and  ennoble  man ;  but  where  could  you  find — whether  on 
the  Himalayas,  in  the  isles  of  Polynesia,  among  the  forests 
of  North  America,  the  snow  fields  of  Greenland,  the  plains 
of  Australia,  or  any  other  scene  whereon  nature  displays 
herself  in  beauty  or  in  grandeur — a  single  tribe  which  has 
been  left  to  her  sole  teaching  that  has  received  an  education 
worth  anything,  either  for  this  life  or  a  life  to  come  ?  "  The 
children  of  nature  "  have  been  much  glorified  ;  but  her  chil- 
dren all  the  world  over  are  a  very  ill-conditioned  and  ill-be- 
haved race,  the  most  pitiable  beings  the  world  upholds.  If 
they  were  all  assembled — Esquimaux  and  Bedouin,  Bush- 
man and  1  > yak.  New  Guineaman  and  Chocktaw,  Veddah  and 
Feejean — it  is  likely  that  on  surveying  them  you  would  be 
of  opinion  that  nature  had  made  amazingly  poor  progress  in 
the  instruction  of  her  own  peculiar  family.  Nature  is  a 


WILLIAM   AT.T/RTf   AT  COCK  KOAD.  239 

sage  and  inexhaustible  book  for  him  whom  revelation  has 
taught  to  read ;  a  clear,  sonorous,  and  multiplying  echo 
where  revelation  lifts  up  her  voice :  but  without  a  teacher, 
the  book  cannot  explain  one  of  its  own  letters ;  without  a 
voice,  the  echo  is  mute. 

In  Cock  Road,  nature  had  a  fair  aspect  and  a  long  op- 
portunity. She  was  left  undisturbed  for  generations  to 
teach  with  her  stars,  and  trees,  and  nightingales,  her  flowers 
and  her  storms.  A  poet,  looking  on  those  winding  lanes, 
would  have  sung  about  guileless  hearts  and  innocent  homes ; 
while  those  lanes  were  the  hiding-place  of  thieves  and  mur- 
derers. More  teaching  took  place  in  that  Sunday  School  in 
the  first  year,  more  which  tended  to  fit  those  children  for 
useful  lives  here  and  glorious  lives  hereafter,  than  had  taken 
place  through  all  the  beauties  of  nature  from  the  time  of  the 
Cock-Roadites  became  a  tribe.  The  school  prospered,  and 
the  people  improved.  The  two  brothers  and  their  fellow- 
labourers  had  reason  to  rejoice. 

In  the  biography  of  William  Allen  (both  in  the  original 
life  and  the  shorter  and  more  serviceable  one  lately  pub- 
lished by  the  Rev.  James  Sherman),  an  allusion  will  be 
found  to  this  school,  which  he  visited  while  staying  at  Clif- 
ton, calling  at  the  house  of  Mr.  H.  H.  Budgett.  He  bears 
testimony  to  the  needy  condition  of  the  place,  and  to  the 
zeal  bestowed  upon  it.  The  labours  which  Mr.  Budgett 
commenced  thus  early,  he  prosecuted  with  diligence  through- 
out life,  not  confining  himself  to  Cock  Road,  but  lending 
hearty  aid  to  many  neighbouring  schools.  His  power  over 
the  children  was  great ;  he  was  ever  on  the  watch  for  some 
anecdote  or  illustration  that  would  help  him  to  catch  their 
attention ;  his  addresses  were  both  familiar  and  authorita 
tive ;  he  would,  with  amazing  promptitude,  obtain  silence  till 
the  tick  of  the  clock  was  heard  by  all ;  and  he  had  a  pecu 


240  WHITSUNTIDE   HOLIDAYS. 

liar  delight  in  giving  the  children  a  treat  and  seeing  them 
all  happy. 

To  the  good  work  wherein  his  soul  delighted,  he  early 
trained  his  sons  and  only  daughter,  as  also  the  pious  and 
intelligent  of  those  in  his  employment ;  so  that  every  Lord's- 
day  a  numerous  band  of  labourers  went  out  from  his  own 
house  and  those  of  his  dependants.  An  honoured  friend  of 
my  own  has  given  the  following  beautiful  sketch,  referring 
when  he  wrote  it  chiefly  to  a  member  of  the  family,  now  in 
a  better  country.  It  was  Whitsuntide  in  the  year  1849, 
and  my  friend  was  visiting  at  Kingswood  Hill : — 

"  The  enjoyments  of  the  week  were  entered  upon  with 
great  zest.  The  beautiful  valley  of  the  Avon  and  the  undu- 
lating hills  around  Kingswood  and  Hanham  which  bordered 
upon  it,  were  clothed  in  that  soft,  rich  green  which  through- 
out this  part  of  the  west  is  so  attractive  and  refreshing  a 
feature ;  the  hedge-rows  in  all  the  lanes  were  dusted  over 
with  the  blooms  of  wild  flowers ;  the  new-mown  hay  was 
yielding  its  perfume ;  and  all  our  best  singing  birds  in  the 
plantations  were  in  full  tune.  No  trifles,  any  of  these,  to  a 
grateful  and  susceptible  nature  ;  but  the  chief  charm  of  the 
scene  to  a  Christian,  an  English  heart,  in  this  general  holi- 
day, was  the  excitement  connected  with  the  Sunday  School 
festal  anniversaries.  The  boys  and  girls  clothed  in  their  best 
attire  were  skipping  along  the  road  and  bye-paths,  greeting 
their  teachers,,and  hasting  to  join  a  procession  which  must 
first  move  to  the  house  of  God  and  then  back  again  to  some 
place  of  innocent  recreation.  The  grounds  at  Kingswood 
Hill  were  opened  on  one  of  these  days  for  the  recreation  of 
the.  members  of  the  Wesleyan  Sunday  School.  The  day 
was  fine,  and  the  enjoyment  unalloyed :  Edwin  did  all  he 
eouli  to  enhance  that  enjoyment.  The  hilarity  of  the  chil- 
dren called  forth  his  own.  There  were  moments  when  he 
was  playful  as  the  young  fawn  which  ever  and  anon  was 


PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL. 

throwing  up  her  heels  in  the  face  of  the  different  groups  as 
she  bounded  by  upon  the  grass." 

One  of  the  last  services  Mr.  Budgett  rendered  to  Kings 
wood  was  to  build  a  noble  room  for  a  day  school,  at  the  cost 
of  some  eight  hundred  pounds ;  which  has  been  placed  under 
the  Wesleyan  Educational  Committee,  and  will  doubtless 
long  serve  as  a  beautiful  monument  to  its  founder,  as  a 
source  of  light  to  the  children  of  the  vicinity. 

He  had  early  felt  a  strong  desire  to  preach  to  the 
heathen,  and  about  the  period  of  his  marriage  he  began  to 
labour  as  a  local  preacher.  One  who  had  lived  in  the  vici- 
nity all  his  life,  and  who  insisted,  "  You  cannot  say  too  much 
of  that  good  man,  sir ;  you  cannot  say  too  much  of  that 
good  man,"  told  me  that  he  heard  him  preach  his  "trial 
sermon"  as  a  local  preacher,  and  was  so  impressed  with 
his  power,  that  he  told  him  he  thought  he  ought  to  have 
been  in  the  ministry  ;  on  which  he  informed  him  of  his  early 
leanings,  and  the  causes  which  had  fixed  his  lot  in  trade. 
In  the  later  years  of  life  he  was  often  so  deeply  affected 
with  a  conviction  of  unworthiness,  that  when  appointed  to 
preach  in  some  of  the  neighbouring  places,  he  could  not  ven- 
ture on  the  holy  service,  but  would  procure  a  substitute — 
often  one  in  his  own  employment. 

Thus  in  early  life,  before  he  was  able  to  be  of  much  tem- 
poral service  to  his  neighbours,  he  did  what  in  him  lay  for 
their  spiritual  welfare ;  but  as  his  property  increased  he  did 
not  couple  apparent  zeal  for  men's  souls  with  indifference  to 
the  wants  of  their  bodies.  He  was  a  large  and  hearty  giver; 
but  he  strongly  desired  to  make  his  gifts  strengthen  rather 
than  enfeeble  the  self-helping  energy  of  others.  On  this  ac- 
count he  preferred  employment  whenever  he  could  invent  it ; 
and  the  house,  the  farm,  the  grounds,  the  premises,  were  all 
laid  under  tax  for  this  end. 

Mr.  Carvosso,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  his  efforts  in 
U 


242  HELPING  THE  INDUSTEIOUS. 

this  line,  shall  give  an  idea  of  the  scale  they  sometimes  as- 
sumed : — "  He  was  surrounded  by  the  poor,  and  every  way 
disposed  to  do  them  good.  Discrimination  he  certainly  had ; 
he  knew  what  was  in  them,  and  was  not  to  be  readily  im- 
posed on.  That  he  might  not  maintain  them  in  idleness, 
during  the  scarcity  of  bread  in  1846  and  1847,  he  spent  thou- 
sands merely  to  employ  them,  engaging  some  150  extra 
hands  for  small  wages,  and  on  Saturdays  adding  scores  of 
pounds  to  the  earnings  of  those  who  had  families,  that  they 
might  have  enough  to  meet  domestic  wants.  In  meeting  the 
wants  of  his  poor  neighbours  by  preparation  of  soup,  he  was 
foremost,  both  in  his  own  gifts  and  in  soliciting  from  the 
rich ;  and  in  this  way  he  was  mighty,  almost  resistless,  so  that 
the  poor  were  double  debtors  to  him." 

Pursuant  to  his  desire  to  help  men  to  earn,  he  often 
made  the  substantial  present  of  a  horse  ;  and  in  the  case  of 
a  respectable  widow,  he  offered  either  twenty  pounds  or  five 
pounds  and  a  horse.  When  he  suspected  that  a  man,  instead 
of  employing  the  horse  to  maintain  the  family,  would  sell  the 
horse  and  waste  the  money,  he  would  bind  him  by  a  promise 
to  pay, — never  intending,  however,  to  call  for  payment  unless 
his  generosity  was  abused.  In  one  case,  a  man  to  whom  he 
gave  a  horse  under  promise  of  paying  eleven  pounds,  was  re- 
ported to  him  two  days  after  as  carousing  at  a  public-house 
with  money  obtained  by  selling  the  horse.  He  at  once  had 
him  looked  after :  he  had  sold  the  horse  for  thirteen  pounds, 
and  had  already  spent  about  two  in  his  frolic ;  the  remaining 
eleven  were  of  course  taken  back. 

A  young  man,  the  brother  of  one  his  of  servants,  had  fallen 
ill  in  London  while  working  as  a  tinman.  After  suffering 
Jong  in  the  hospitals,  he  came  into  the  country ;  but  ill  and 
feeble,  he  could  not  return  to  work  in  town.  Mr.  Budgett 
gave  him  fifteen  pounds  to  set  up  in  a  neighbouring  village. 
Fart  of  the  same  family  were  going  to  America ;  he  gave 


visrrmo  THE  POOB.  243 

them  thirty  pounds ;  and  to  make  it  sit  lightly,  told  them  to 
buy  land  with  it  for  him,  and  write  him  word  how  it  got  on ; 
perhaps  he  would  come  and  look  after  it  some  day.  One 
day,4n  driving  along  the  road  he  took  up  a  man,  and  soon 
found  out  all  about  him,  which  was  usually  the  case ;  for 
somehow  he  led  people  to  disclose  themselves  till  they  were 
almost  as  open  with  him  as  he  was  wont  to  be  with  his 
own  friends.  This  man  proved  to  be  on  the  point  of  emi- 
grating, but  with  scanty  means.  After  being  satisfied  as  to 
the  truth  of  his  statement,  he  gave  him  fifty  pounds,  but,  I 
believe,  coupled  with  some  conditions  of  repayment  if  con- 
venient. 

A  man,  with  whom  he  often  dealt  for  horses,  had  been 
robbed  at  a  fair.  In  his  despair  he  made  an  attempt  upon 
his  life.  Mr.  Budgett,  hearing  that  he  was  lying  dread- 
fully wounded,  hastened  to  see  him,  warned  him,  encouraged 
him,  and  prayed  with  him.  The  poor  fellow  was  in  utter 
despair,  both  as  to  his  soul  and  as  to  this  life.  Mr.  Bud- 
gett assured  him  that  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  go  to  busi- 
ness again  he  should  have  enough  to  set  him  on  his  feet. 
He  recovered :  and  when  asked  how  much  would  be  ne- 
cessary, said — Eighty  ponnds ;  but  he  would  wish  to  pay  it 
back  if  ever  he  was  able.  On  these  terms  the  eighty  pounds 
were  at  once  given. 

Besides  endless  detached  instances  of  benevolence  such- 
as  these,  he  zealously  promoted  the  visiting  and  relief  of  the 
poor  by  a  regular  organisation  after  the  model  of  the  STRAN- 
GER'S FRIEND  SOCIETY — the  oldest  of  our  visiting  charities 
and  the  best.  In  this  he  laboured  heartily,  giving  influence, 
time  and  gold.  His  own  leisure  for  visiting  was  not  such  as 
to  satisfy  him ;  therefore  a  paid  visitor  was  employed.  And 
one  of  his  neighbours,  who  laboured  in  this  good  work,  told 
me  that  he  would  now  and  then  ask  him  how  they  were  get 
ting  on  in  his  district,  and  put  two  or  three  sovereigns  into 


244  TTRT.P   TO  THE   POOE  THKOUGH   MINISTERS. 

his  hand,  whether  he  would  or  not.  to  be  given  away.  "  Be- 
sides," he  said,  "  I  never  came  to  him  yet  with  a  case  of 
distress  that  he  refused ;  and  what  was  strange,  he  would 
never  say,  'I  will  give  you  so-and-so,'  but  would  ask,  'Well, 
how  much  do  you  think  I  should  give?'  And  whatever  I 
said — five  shillings,  ten,  or  fifteen,  it  was  all  the  same — he 
gave  it  at  once." 

This  statement  struck  me  as  precisely  coinciding  with 
one  which  had  been  previously  made  by  his  old  neighbour 
and  intimate  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Glanville.  He  remarked 
that  in  all  the  applications  he  had  made  to  Mr.  Budgett,  he 
never  once  knew  him  to  say,  what  we  so  commonly  hear  said 
by  those  who  remember  their  own  charitable  acts  so  well,  "  I 
have  had  so  many  calls  lately."  No,  not  once  in  cM  those 
years  had  he  heard  those  words  out  of  his  lips ;  but  when- 
ever he  went,  found,  just  as  my  other  friend  had  found, 
that  when  he  mentioned  the  case  he  was  asked,  "Well, 
how  much  do  you  think  I  ought  to  give  ? "  And  whether 
he  said  ten  pounds,  fifteen,  or  twenty,  that  sum  was  forth- 
coming. 

Mr.  Carvosso  says, — "  In  the  course  of  my  ministry,  I 
have  only  met  with  two  rich  men  who  remembered  the  poor 
through  their  ministers.  One  was  the  late  venerable  Wm. 
Game,  of  Penzance ;  the  other,  Mr.  Budgett.  Mr.  Came 
would  occasionally  put  a  sovereign  into  my  hand  in  reference 
to  wants  the  sight  of  which  a  minister  cannot  well  shun. 
Samuel  Budgett  went  further ;  now  and  then  he  would  drop 
into  my  hand  a  five-pound  note,  intimating  that  I  must  per- 
mit him  to  bear  some  part  of  the  expense  entailed  on  me 
by  visiting  the  poor  and  distressed." 

One  does  meet  with  but  few  who  thus  help  one  to  t.,ijoy 
visiting  the  wretched ;  for  when  you  see  staring  want  in  some 
of  the  sad  corners  of  this  huge  London,  it  is  cheerless  to 
produce  the  one  lean  shilling  which  alone  your  own  purse  can 


CHRISTMAS   GIFTS.  245 

furnish.  But  a  few  have  given  me  the  luxury  of  seeing  dull 
eyes  lighten  up  with  gratitude  to  God  and  to  an  unknown 
friend.  There  is  something  touching  in  putting  a  half  sov- 
ereign into  the  hand  of  a  poor  woman  who  needs  it,  is  wor- 
thy of  it,  but  had  no  hope,  and  saying  at  the  same  time,  so 
as  to  remove  all  sense  of  uncomfortable  obligation,  "  It  is  not 
from  me ;  a  friend  has  given  me  something  to  dispose  of." 
I  never  went  to  a  Christmas  dinner  with  such  pleasure  as 
last  year  (1850).  After  a  number  of  visits,  at  each  of  which 
I  deposited  in  a  poor  but  worthy  hand  enough,  from  the 
purse  of  a  friend,  to  make  the  Christmas  plentiful,  one 
bright  coin  remained,  and  the  Christmas  morn  had  come. 
It  was  not  comfortable  to  go  to  dine  with  that  in  one's 
pocket,  yet  better  to  keep  it  for  a  day  or  two,  than  give  it 
away  at  hazard.  Just  after  morning  service,  a  name  is  men- 
tioned ;  and  I  see,  even  now,  the  poor  woman  lying  on  that 
small  bed  in  that  close  back  room,  with  her  feeble  fire  and 
her  empty  pot.  She  was  a  widow ;  she  had  children,  and 
long,  long  had  she  been  lying  there ;  worthy,  godly,  with  a 
trusting  heart  and  a  joyful  hope  of  glory,  she  had  lived 
through  her  illness  she  scarce  knew  how.  God,  by  the  hand 
of  his  children,  had  fed  her.  That  day  the  barrel  of  meal 
and  the  cruse  of  oil  seemed  to  have  failed ;  her  stores  were 
all  void.  Had  the  friend  whose  money  I  put  into  her  hand 
Been  her  look,  and  heard  her  blessing,  he  would  have  gone 
to  his  Christmas  dinner  with  as  light  a  heart  as  I.  Rich 
men !  why,  if  you  will  not  visit  and  relieve  the  poor  your- 
selves, should  you  not  employ  those  who  would  ? 

From  what  has  been  said  of  Mr.  Glanville,  it  will  bo 
seen  that  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  confine  his  charities  through 
ministers  to  those  of  his  own  denomination.  On  the  day  of 
his  funeral,  the  Rev.  Mr.  West,  the  Moravian  minister  at 
Kingswood,  told  me,  that  before  coming  out,  he  had  ob- 
served his  servant  in  tears,  and  asked  her  what  was  the 


246  WILD  YOUTHS. 

matter.  "  Oh !"  she  said,  "  they  are  going  to  bury  Mr. 
Budgett :  he  was  a  good  friend  to  my  poor  father  and  moth- 
er ;  he  would  now  and  then  give  them  a  sovereign  to  get 
things  to  sell  for  their  living." 

With  some  men,  money  is  cheap ;  with  some,  labour.  You 
will  find  one  ready  to  give ;  but  he  cannot  visit,  cannot  teach, 
cannot  go  personally  on  any  errand  of  goodness.  Another 
man  will  work,  but  is  slow  to  give.  Each  of  these  is  a  be- 
nevolent man  with  one  leg :  Mr.  Budgett  had  both  legs.  Be- 
fore he  had  much  to  give,  he  had  begun  to  work ;  after  he 
had  much  to  give,  he  persevered  in  working. 

One  Sunday  evening  he  wat  preaching  at  a  neighbouring 
village.  As  he  came  home,  he  saw  a  number  of  youths  lolling 
about  under  the  hedges  in  a  lane — wild,  rough,  ignorant,  idle, 
ill-mannered,  with  bad  looks,  bad  habits,  and  every  stamp  of 
the  accomplished  good-for-nothing.  His  heart  yearned  for 
them  ;  he  thought  how  they  had  been  passing  that  lovely 
summer  Sabbath.  He  went  up  to  them,  and  in  his  own 
neighbourly  way,  began  to  converse.  He  told  them  he  was 
happy,  and  he  should  like  to  see  them  happy.  "  You  have 
minds,  and  I  should  like  to  see  you  improve  your  minds ; 
you  ought  to  have  something  to  think  about,  and  to  employ 
you  usefully."  So  on  he  chatted  till  he  had  obtained  some 
little  hold  of  their  attention.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  if  I  gave 
you  a  good  tea,  would  you  like  to  come  and  take  it  ?"  "  O 
yes,  0  yes,"  was  the  cheerful  answer.  "  Then  come  up  to  the 
vestry  of  Kingswood  chapel  to-morrow  evening ;  we  are  go- 
ing to  have  a  little  meeting,  and  you  shall  have  a  good  tea." 
This  was  a  tea-meeting  of  the  tract  distributors.  He  paid 
for  tickets  for  his  new  friends,  who  did  not  fail  to  be  there  ; 
and  after  they  had  done  their  endeavour  upon  the  eatables, 
he  came  up  to  them,  and  said,  "  Well,  have  you  had  a  good 
tea?" 

« 'Ees,  thank  'ee." 


GATHERING  OF  WILD  YOUTHS.         247 

"I  suppose  you  know  many  young  men  just  of  your 
own  kind,  who  go  about  the  lanes  on  a  Sunday  night  liko 
you?" 

"  0  'ees." 

"  Do  you  think  if  I  promised  them  a  good  tea  they  would 
come  ?"  He  was  encouraged  to  hope  for  their  company  on 
Buch  terms ;  and  soon  his  brother  class-leaders  had  a  hun- 
dred tickets  in  their  hands,  to  be  given  to  the  worst  young 
men  in  the  neighbourhood,  with  a  promise  of  a  bountiful 
treat  if  they  came  to  the  great  room  on  Mr.  Budgett's  prem- 
ises, which  served  for  a  chapel  and  all  good  purposes.  The 
tickets  were  taken  rather  shyly,  for  they  knew  well  enough 
that  Mr.  Budgett  was  not  gathering  them  without  some 
religious  end.  So  they  said  they  did  not  want  to  go  to 
Budgett  to  be  hooked  in  for  a  prayer-meeting,  or  something 
of  that  sort.  However,  the  "good  tea"  went  far.  At  last 
a  compromise  suggested  itself  to  the  youths  ;  they  would  go, 
take  the  tea,  and  then  "bolt"  before  there  was  any  chance 
of  troubling  them  about  religion.  This  stratagem,  however, 
was  met  by  a  stratagem  on  the  other  side.  The  room  was 
crowded ;  above  a  hundred  came,  and  such  a  set  of  guests 
has  seldom  met  under  decent  roof — all  shades  of  vice  and 
recklessness  were  gathered  there  to  feast,  and  run  away 
from  good  advice.  It  was  plain  that  the  ringleaders  were 
in  one  corner,  for  thence  proceeded  all  manner  of  odd  and 
boisterous  rogueries.  To  this  point  one  of  "  the  young  gen- 
tlemen" betook  himself,  sat  down  beside  the  chief,  made  one 
of  the  party,  and  talked  as  familiarly  as  if  he  were  quite  on 
their  side.  The  hero  he  selected  had  travelled  and  sailed  as 
a  stoker,  and  therefore  was  a  notability  among  his  associ- 
ates. Neither  the  hospitality  nor  the  cordial  feeling  had 
any  effect  upon  his  coarse  and  headstrong  badness.  He 
tried  in  all  ways  to  disconcert  his  unexpected  comrade, 
and  would  not  by  any  means  tell  him  his  name.  After 


248  WHAT  TO   DO   WITH   FIFTY   POUNDS. 

vain  attempts  to  tame  him  into  sensible  conversation,  hit 
young  host  said,  "  I  hoptf  we  shall  spend  a  pleasant  oven- 
ing.  What  do  you  think  we  ought  to  do  by  way  of  enjoying 
ourselves  ?" 

"  You  had  better  get  up  and  make  us  a  bit  of  a  divar- 
Bhin." 

Just  then  the  repast  was  coming  to  a  close,  and  the  pre- 
concerted move  began  to  be  made  ;  but  before  they  had  got 
out  of  the  way,  Mr.  Budge tt  ran  up  into  the  desk,  and  said, 
"  I  have  asked  you  to  come  here  for  the  purpose  of  doing 
something  for  you — something  that  will  be  of  use  to  you. 
Now,  just  as  a  start,  I  will  give  you,  among  you,  fifty 
pounds,  and  you  must  make  up  your  minds  what  you  will  do 
with  it" 

The  wild  rogues  were  thunderstruck  ;  they  meant  to  run 
away  from  a  prayer-meeting,  but  it  was  quite  another  thing 
to  run  away  from  fifty  pounds.  Hats  that  had  been  taken 
up  were  replaced,  and  feet  already  at  the  door  turned  back. 
No  sooner  had  the  offer  been  made  than  one  of  Mr.  Bud- 
gett's  sons,  making  himself  as  one  of  the  party,  said,  "  Fifty 
pounds !  that 's  something ;  why,  there  are  about  a  hundred 
of  us,  and  suppose  we  divide  it  amongst  us,  there  will  be 
half  a  sovereign  a-piece."  This  proposition  would  probably 
have  been  very  acceptable  to  the  company;  but  another, 
who  was  in  the  secret,  at  once  rose  and  objected,  saying  he 
thought  it  would  be  very  foolish  to  throw  away  such  a  sum 
as  fifty  pounds  in  that  away ;  they  had  better  put  it  to  some 
•use  that  would  do  them  good  for  a  long  time  to  come.  This 
was  adroitly  argued  until  all  seemed  to  come  into  that  idea ; 
then  came  a  proposition  to  found  a  society  for  study  and 
mental  improvement,  to  be  called  the  "  Kingswood  Young 
Men's  Association."  After  due  discussion,  this  was  carried 
by  vote,  and  Mr.  Budgett  was  appointed  treasurer.  The 
youths  had  been  insensibly  led  by  the  tact  wherewith  the 


YOUNG  WOMEN'S  ASSOCIATION.  249 

affair  was  managed  to  take  an  interest  in  it ;  and  when  the 
final  arrangements  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee, 
several  of  them,  to  their  great  exaltation,  were  placed  upon 
the  committee  with  the  friends  who  had  so  cleverly  con- 
ducted the  first  meeting.  It  was  arranged  that  the  weekly 
rendezvous  should  be  the  vestry  of  the  chapel  on  Sunday 
evenings  after  the  service.  This  seemed  to  the  young  men 
a  very  natural  gathering  place ;  but  it  was  just  the  point 
which  secured  Mr.  Budgett's  object  of  withdrawing  them 
from  their  demoralising  rambles  on  Sunday  evening,  and 
getting  them  to  the  house  of  God. 

So  far  the  success  had  been  perfect ;  but  now  it  remain- 
ed to  be  seen  how  many  would  meet  at  the  chapel.  About 
sixty  came  ;  these  were  regularly  met  on  Sunday  night  after 
the  public  service  for  religious  instruction,  and  in  the  week 
for  secular  instruction.  A  good  library  was  bought  with 
the  original  donation,  occasional  lectures  on  scientific  sub- 
jects were  delivered  by  some  of  the  masters  of  Kingswood 
school,  and  year  by  year  a  tea  meeting  was  given  at  which 
rewards  of  very  substantial  books  were  distributed. 

The  success  in  this  case  was  highly  encouraging ;  but 
Mr.  Budgett  saw  that  to  make  it  decisive  a  similar  associa- 
tion must  be  instituted  for  young  women ;  because  the  habit 
of  Sunday  evening  strolling  prevailed  equally  among  the 
young  people  of  both  sexes,  to  the  moral  damage  of  both. 
By  similar  means  this  also  was  effected  j  and  thus  a  large 
number  of  youths  and  young  women  were  weekly  gathered 
in  the  house  of  God,  and  afterwards  separately  occupied  in 
receiving  profitable  instruction,  while  they  had  also  good 
opportunities  and  strong  incentives  to  self-cultivation.  At 
the  annual  gathering  of  the  Young  Females'  Association, 
Mr.  Budgett  was  wont  to  regale  them  with  tea  and  straw- 
berries. A  gentleman  of  taste  and  education,  who  has 
heard  him  address  them  on  such  an  occasion,  states  that  he 
11* 


250  THE  SHODDY  MILL. 

had  a  most  remarkable  art  of  gaining  their  attention  and  in- 
teresting them  in  his  views.  He  was  especially  struck  with 
his  power  of  making  it  appear  to  them,  that  if  only  godly  and 
in  earnest,  they  might  rise  to  circumstances  of  comfort  and 
opportunities  of  usefulness.  I  believe  that  these  associations 
cost  him  annually  about  fifty  pounds  ;  but  he  had  his  re- 
ward in  the  improvement  of  many,  and  the  clear  conversion 
of  some. 

He  also  instituted  a  catechumen  class  for  young  women, 
which  he  regularly  met.  This  was  a  very  favourite  engage- 
ment with  him,  and  so  interesting  did  he  make  it,  that,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  it  was  attended  by  about  forty,  some 
of  whom  had  indeed  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  all  of 
whom  evinced  intense  grief  at  his  loss. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  shoddy  mill?  It  is  a  curious 
sight.  You  find  a  multitude  of  rags  and  tatters  gathered 
from  all  the  winds ;  here  a  patch  of  Irish  frieze,  there  a 
shred  of  tartan ;  scraps  of  women's  shawls,  of  men's  panta- 
loons, of  flannels,  horse  rugs,  stockings ;  threads,  snips,  and 
morsels ;  blue,  black,  green,  and  all  hues ;  English,  Welsh, 
German ;  a  strange  heap  of  the  offcast  and  the  defiled ; 
hopeless  things  that  no  housewife  could  work  up,  that  no 
shivering  wretch  would  look  to  for  comfort.  Yet  there  they 
are  for  restoration.  See  how  that  teethed  and  terrible  ma- 
chine makes  them  look  more  hopeless  still ;  rends  up  even 
rags,  tears  up  tatters ;  champs,  wrests,  slashes,  and  flings 
them  out  at  last  fibres  and  choking  dust.  But  next  comes 
the  oil  can,  and  oil,  abundant  oil,  with  working  and  turning, 
till  the  heap  begins  to  look  like  some  caricature  of  wool. 
Then  the  spinning-frame,  and,  lo !  the  tatters  form  to  yarn 
once  more ;  then  the  loom,  where  the  tatters  turn  to  blankets, 
druggets,  pilot  cloth,  and  even  what  would  pass  under  your 
eyes  as  decent  broadcloth.  This  shoddy  covers  many  a 
respectable  floor,  flourishes  in  paletots  of  low  caste,  and 


THE  SHODDY  MILL.  251 

goes  out  in  blue  blankets  to  New  Zealand  to  clothe  the 
Maories. 

Now,  society  has  its  shoddy,  its  offcast  rags,  its  hopeless 
tatters,  polluted  and  displeasing  to  look  upon  and  very  un- 
desirable to  touch.  The  respectable  world  has  passed  them 
by ;  they  have  lain  in  corners  and  grown  viler  till  they  cor- 
rupted away,  the  receptacles  being  ever  filled  up  with  new 
offcasts.  But  God's  Gospel  in  the  hearts  of  men  has  set 
them  to  search  for  these  refuse,  and  to  work  them  up  again 
into  the  texture  of  society.  The  ragged  school  is  the  shoddy 
mill ;  and  many  a  poor  unpitied  and  unpromising  tatter  has 
been  recovered  to  a  creditable  place  among  men.  Mr.  Bud- 
gett's  contrivance  was  a  shoddy  mill,  and  some  right  good 
pieces  has  it  yielded.  The  same  substance  is  in  all  men, 
and  the  lesson  of  the  shoddy  mill  is,  that  none  are  too  bad 
to  be  rescued.  Only  do  not  begin  to  flatter  the  rags  and 
say,  You  are  fair  and  beautiful  at  bottom ;  you  only  want 
air  and  sun,  a  little  dye,  and  a  proper  brushing  to  match 
the  most  serviceable  cloth.  Nay,  they  must  be  torn  to 
pieces — rent  right  up,  or  they  will  only  be  rags  though  you 
give  them  all  the  air  and  sun,  all  the  dye  and  brushing  im- 
aginable. The  offcasts  of  men  are  just  so  :  you  will  never 
make  good  citizens  of  them  by  nice  speeches  and  wise  les- 
sons; the  evil  that  is  in  them  will  survive  a  great  deal 
more  than  that.  They  are  bad  at  heart,  deceitful  and  des- 
perately wicked  to  the  core  of  them  ;  evil  is  bound  up  in 
their  impulses.  They  must  be  heart-smitten,  torn  to  the 
quick ;  their  souls  pierced  through  and  through  with  sharp 
agonies  of  penitence,  with  such  wounds  from  a  hand  we  see 
not  as  made  brave  king  David  roar,  with  inner  throes  that 
will  rend  all  their  desires  from  their  old  vile  objects,  with  god- 
ly sorrows  working  repentance — leading  them  to  cry,  as  men 
cry  whose  whole  soul  is  in  movement,  "  Hide  thy  face  from 
my  sins,  and  blot  out  all  mine  iniquities ;  create  in  me  a 


252  HOW  TO   EECOVEE  OFFCASTS. 

clean  heart,  0  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me  I " 
And  the  creating  hand  thus  invoked  from  chaos  will  move  ; 
"  God  who  caused  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness"  will 
shine  "  in  their  dark  hearts  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Christ  Jesus."  That  face 
is  the  face  of  a  Saviour,  a  friend  who  actually  docs  deliver  a 
poor  man  from  the  foulness  of  his  breast.  This  face  seen, 
this  deliverance  felt,  the  glory  of  God  breaks  in  upon  the 
repenting  sinner  as  the  light  shooting  first  athwart  chaos, 
and  inside  his  soul  love,  joy,  and  peace  rise  up  a  new  crea- 
tion. 

Ye  that  laugh  at  this,  what  Gospel  have  ye  preached  ? 
What  tribe  of  Cock-Roadites  have  ye  ever  tamed  ?  What 
refuse  of  our  cities  have  ye  ever  restored  ?  Ye  say  man's 
heart  is  good ;  let  this  Earth  you  live  on,  every  inch  of  it, 
and  every  age  of  it,  rise  up  and  bid  you  not  lie.  Do  you  not 
hear  it  cry,  "  See,  see  all  the  tears  which  moisten  me, — th» 
groans  I  echo — the  curses,  the  rages,  the  murders  I  wit- 
ness— the  hearts  that  are  gnawing,  burning,  breaking — the 
wrongs  that  are  doing — the  graves  that  are  digging :  hear 
the  voice  of  ten  million  miseries,  and  dare  you  utter  the 
gibe, '  heart  good  ! '  What !  all  this  filth  and  shame  which 
cover  me  come  of  good !  this  robbery  in  Cock  Road,  this 
abomination  in  St.  Giles,  this  human  flesh  and  blood  glut- 
tony in  bright  Polynesia, — all  this  come  of  good !  From 
what  darker  abyss  of  evil  are  you  sent  forth  that  you  look 
on  all  this  outflow  of  the  heart  of  man,  and  looking  pro 
nounce  it  good?"  No,  the  all-searching  God  said  long  ago 
that  man's  heart  was  evil,  and  all  the  story  of  this  earth 
monotonously  echoes  "  Evil  f "  Denying  it  you  deny  revela- 
tion, history,  your  own  heart's  ways  ;  denying  it  you  cut 
yourself  off  from  all  hope  of  seriously  helping  man.  "  Make 
the  tree  good ;"  that  is  the  right  lesson  :  you  say  "  train  the 
tree,  enrich  the  soil,  let  the  aspect  be  sunny," — all  very  well 


GOOD  FRUIT  AND  CRABS  253 

if  the  tree  be  made  good ;  but  if  you  persist  that  the  tree 
does  not  need  grafting,  you  may  transplant  to  the  sunniest 
spot,  train,  dig,  manure,  and  fence,  but  your  tree  will  bring 
forth  crabs.  You  cannot  get  good  fruit  by  collective  cul- 
ture :  your  walls,  and  suns,  and  drains,  and  manures  are 
very  good,  but  each  individual  tree  must  be  grafted — cut 
right  away  from  nature's  stem,  set  bleeding  in  another — or 
all  your  collective  culture  ends  in  crabs.  "  Make  the  tret 
good :"  your  institutions  are  walls  and  aspects,  your  educa- 
tion is  training ;  but  each  man  is  as  individual  as  each  tree, 
he  must  be  "  made  good,"  cut  off  from  his  fallen  nature, 
grafted  all  tender,  wounded  and  penitent  into  Christ ;  and 
though  all  the  trees  of  the  garden  had  been  so  grafted  and 
you  alone  remained,  yet  you  should  bear  but  crabs.  Go,  then, 
go  ye  that  have  a  heart  to  rescue  the  outcasts  of  men,  go 
teach  them,  clothe  them,  feed  them,  heal  them,  do  all  love 
can  do  for  them ;  but  let  your  voice  ever  cry,  "  Repent  and 
believe  the  Gospel;"  let  your  heart  ever  pant  to  see  them 
smitten  with  grief  at  their  sinfulness,  and  hasting  to  Jesus 
to  wash  them  from  their  sins  in  His  own  blood. 

Another  of  his  favourite  labours  was  giving  away  good 
books  and  tracts.  He  seldom  went  out  for  a  drive  or  a 
walk,  but  he  provided  a  supply  and  gave  them  freely.  Hr 
had  a  room  of  considerable  size  occupied  with  book  shelves 
whereon  lay  all  manner  of  volumes  and  of  tracts,  from  the 
tiniest  child  book  up  to  respectable  duodecimos.  All  these 
were  his  stock  for  distribution,  and  were  replenished  by 
purchases  of  ten  pounds'  worth  at  a  time. 

In  all  the  concerns  of  his  neighbours  he  took  a  lively  in- 
terest. In  cases  of  family  broils,  his  mediation  was  often 
called  in.  He  would  place  the  disputing  relations  in  differ- 
ent rooms  of  his  own  house,  first  hear  one,  and  then  another, 
till  he  had  got  to  the  rights  of  the  case ;  and  keep  him  from 
the  rights  who  could  ?  "With  him  equivocation  was  useless 


254  THE   HAIR-DRESSER. 

he  would  track  it  out.  When  he  had  mastered  the  case  he 
would  propose  his  terms  of  reconciliation,  and  often  succeed* 
ed  in  effecting  a  permanent  healing  where  there  had  been 
most  painful  sores. 

Over  the  prospects  of  young  persons  he  watched  ten- 
derly ;  and  when  he  saw  them  in  danger  of  forming  wrong 
connexions  for  life,  he  would  with  prompt  and  persuasive 
kindness  interfere.  Not  confining  his  solicitude  to  his  own 
children,  or  to  the  respectable  youth  of  his  own  circle,  he 
cared  and  watched  for  the  humble  and  the  servant,  and  with 
a  rare  power  over  the  will,  succeeded  in  saving  not  a  few  from 
ill-judged  and  ungodly  marriages.  This  testimony  I  have 
had  not  only  from  observers,  but  from  parties  who  felt  the 
life-debt  they  owed  him,  for  a  service  which  few  men  could 
have  performed. 

His  desire  to  raise  all  about  him  was  constantly  showing 
itself.  Take  one  illustration  out  of  thousands: — Coming 
out  of  a  'hair-dresser's  rooms,  he  paused  in  the  shop  and 
looked  round.  "  0,  you  sell  brushes,  and  things  of  this 
kind?" 

"Yes,  Sir." 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  sell  to  every  one  that  comes  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed,  Sir." 

"  But  /  should.  At  all  events  you  try  to  sell  to  every 
one  that  comes  ?  " 

"  Well,  no,  we  do  not,  Sir,  one  doesn't  always  think  of 
it" 

"  But  you  ought :  you  have  your  family  to  provide  for, 
you  should  have  tact  and  push ;  if  I  were  in  your  place, 
I  would  sell  to  every  one  that  came,  and  you  ought  to 
try." 

"  Very  well,  Sir,  suppose  we  begin  with  you,"  making  a 
show  of  displaying  some  wares. 

"  Yes,  to  be  sure,  why  not  ? — let  us  see."     To  work  he 


HIS  INTEBEST  IN  THE  SOU1S  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       255 

Bets,  and  by  way  of  encouraging  the  hair-dresser  he  buys 
brushes,  combs,  and  such  commodities  to  the  extent  of  thirty- 
five  shillings.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  go  into  a  shop  where 
they  force  you  to  buy  or  to  be  uncivil,  and  the  thing  is  some- 
times pushed  intolerably;  but  the  fact  stated  shows  Mr. 
Budgett's  desire  to  see  others  thriving. 

Thus  dwelt  he  among  his  own  people,  rising  up  under 
their  eye,  spreading  employment  on  all  hands,  giving  an  ex- 
ample of  industry  and  of  success,  teaching,  preaching,  visit- 
ing, relieving,  helping,  mediating,  advising.  And  among 
them  he  staid.  When  he  grew  far  beyond  them  he  did  not 
find  out  that  Kingswood  was  unhealthy,  and  that  Clifton  or 
Bath  was  the  only  place  his  family  could  breathe  in.  No  : 
he  clung  to  them  and  their  wants.  He  saw  their  rudeness, 
but  instead  of  securing  the  polish  of  his  children  by  taking 
them  far  from  the  poor  colliers,  he  endeavoured  to  raise  and 
bless  the  colliers  by  sending  his  children  among  their  cot- 
tages and  employing  them  in  their  schools.  But  in  all  his 
efforts  for  them,  the  soul  was  his  end,  though,  after  the  exam- 
ple of  Him  who  loved  souls  most  and  bought  them  dearest, 
he  gave  for  the  body  all  that  he  could  give.  The  individual 
conversion  of  the  soul  was  his  object  and  his  hope  ;  he  knew 
that  every  man  whose  heart  was  changed  from  sin  to  holiness 
did  more  for  the  elevation  of  a  neighbourhood  than  a  hun- 
dred other  appliances.  The  deep  interest  he  felt  in  every 
token  of  spiritual  life  is  evinced  in  the  following  letter  to  the 
young  and  beloved  friend,  whose  notes  have  been  and  will 
hereafter  be  of  great  value  to  us  : — 

"Bristol,  April  1st,  1845. 

"  MY  VERY  DEAR  FRIEND, — We  have  a  great  work  going 
on  here.  I  would  try  to  give  you  some  account,  but  I  am 
just  now  pressed  for  time,  and  you  will  be  more  delighted  to 
come  and  spend  a  week  with  us  and  see  for  yourself,  and  we 


256  THE   CHAPEL. 

will  give  you  some  heart-cheering  accounts.  Some  of  th« 
stoutest  rebels  have  been  constrained  to  cry  aloud,  yea,  to 
roar  for  anguish  of  spirit ;  and  God  has  graciously  forgiven 
their  sins  and  made  them  the  means  of  bringing  others  to 
seek  salvation.  There  is  a  gracious  work  among  the  young 
females,  say  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  of  age.  Do  come 
before  the  week  is  out,  and  stay  if  it  is  but  a  few  days.  Just 
drop  me  a  line  and  I  will  meet  you  at  the  station ;  or  find 
your  way  to  Nelson  Street,  and  I  shall  feel  real  pleasure  in 
conveying  you  to  Kingswood.  I  think  we  have  added  above 
two  hundred  and  fifty  to  the  society,  and  old  professors  are 
much  quickened.  The  work  appears  to  be  deep  and  genuine, 
and  likely  to  go  on ;  but  you  must  come,  and  I  hope  very 
soon. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  friend,  most  affectionately  yours, 

"  S.  B." 

Among  his  benefactions  to  Kingswood  stands  the  noble 
chapel  close  by  which  he  lies.  He  did  not  raise  it  from  his 
own  funds,  but  he  raised  it  by  stimulating  others  to  combine 
with  him  in  his  gifts  and  labours.  He  would  have  it,  and 
he  would  have  it  free  from  debt.  In  Bristol,  in  Bath,  in 
London,  in  Liverpool,  he  begged  and  was  rebuked,  and  was 
successful.  To  a  man  so  busy,  whose  time  was  precious  a* 
diamonds,  it  was  no  small  matter  to  take  the  tedious  drudgery 
of  begging ;  but  he  had  set  his  heart  on  the  work ;  what  he 
said  in  his  own  business  he  said  in  his  master's  business, 
"  Never  attempt,  or  accomplish."  Local  feeling  was  against 
so  large  and  expensive  an  edifice ;  but  he  inspired  others 
with  his  own  desire  till  he  enlisted  their  hearty  co-operation. 
Towards  the  last  ho  resolved  on  concluding  the  matter  by 
one  great  meeting,  and  prepared  tea  for  above  twelve  hun- 
dred. His  "  tact  and  push"  so  raised  excitement  regarding 
this  meeting,  that  persons  crowded  from  Bristol  in  omnibuses, 


CHAPEL  FREE  FEOM  DEBT.  257 

cars,  vans,  and  all  vehicles  available.  At  the  last,  tickets 
were  besought  on  any  terms,  and  fourteen  hundred  sat  down 
to  tea.  _  He  had  all  arranged  with  military  precision,  so  that 
tea  was  served  at  a  fixed  moment  and  removed  in  half  an 
hour.  Just  at  the  last,  a  cart  was  upset  with,  I  think,  four- 
teen gallons  of  tea ;  but  his  incredible  energy  repaired  the 
mischief,  and  the  serving  and  removing  were  effected  pre- 
cisely as  hjp  had  pre-arranged.  At  that  meeting  his  heart 
obtained  its  desire ;  every  penny  for  the  erection  of  the  new 
sanctuary  was  raised.  His  outburst  of  joy  and  gratitude 
was  moving.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  trustees  he  laid 
down  sixty  pounds  of  a  surplus.  There  it  stands,  that 
chapel,  with  the  school-house  built  chiefly  by  his  zeal  and 
bounty ;  and  both  will  hereafter  ally  the  name  of  Samuel 
Budgett  with  the  progress  of  light  and  of  religion  in  Kings- 
wood.  I  once  heard  a  holy  woman  say,  "  Were  I  rich,  I 
think  nothing  would  be  so  delightful  as  to  build  a  house  for 
God,  and  then  looking  down  from  heaven,  see  all  the  good 
that  was  going  on  under  that  roof." 

Several  neighbouring  chapels  were  not,  like  that  at 
Kingswood,  free  from  debt ;  Mr.  Budgett  felt  toward  them 
as  toward  his,  own.  The  following  description  of  his  doings 
for  these,  by  Mr.  Carvosso,  is  characteristic : — 

"  With  respect  to  his  liberality  to  the  cause  of  God,  he 
far  excelled  any  one  that  /  have  met  with  in  the  church  of 
Christ.  It  is  true  he  would  not  give  without  an  eye  to  the 
bringing  out  of  the  gifts  of  others.  I  first  met  him  in  con- 
nexion with  chapels  at  a  tea  meeting  in  his  own  little  chapel 
at  Kingswood,  the  object  of  which  was  to  raise  funds  for  the 
chapel  at  Longwell  Green,  where  his  brother  lived.  He  was 
in  the  chair.  He  had  offered  fifty  pounds  on  conditions ; 
and  with  his  usual  "  tact  and  push" — to  use  a  favorite  phrase 
of  his  own — was  trying  to  bring  others  up  to  the  mark.  A 
paper  was  handed  him  to  give  out  for  a  tea  meeting  at  Fish- 


258  FISHPONDS   AND   ITS  CHAPEL. 

ponds,  at  which  it  was  proposed  to  pay  off  a  small  part  of 
the  one  hundred  pounds  debt  on  the  chapel  there.  He  read 
it  and  paused,  and  said  if  the  friends  at  Fishponds  would 
endeavour  at  once  to  clear  their  chapel  of  debt,  he  would 
give  them  fifty  pounds,  and  come  to  their  tea  meeting.  The 
thought  of  the  poor  people  there  raising  fifty  pounds  to  meet 
Mr.  Budgett's  liberal  offer,  was,  with  most  parties,  quite  out 
of  the  question — yea,  oppression  and  not  kindness !  A  few 
thought  differently — having  Mr.  Budgett  with  them  inspired 
hope.  After  tea  he  was  voted  to  the  chair.  He  made  a 
short,  telling  speech.  After  much  effort  the  thing  was  done ; 
and  it  was  deeply  affecting  to  see  with  what  glee  all  sprang 
on  their  feet,  and  with  what  unanimity  and  joy  they  lustily 
sang— 

'  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.' " 

Such  was  the  effect  of  his  influence,  that  before  his  death 
all  the  chapels  in  the  Kingswood  circuit  were  free  from  debt, 
with  the  exception  of  some  trifle. 

The  zeal  of  Mr.  Budgett  for  the  interests  of  his  own  de- 
nomination was  decided,  consistent,  and  active,  but  not  sec- 
tarian ;  his  sympathies,  influence,  and  contributions  were  at 
the  command  of  other  labourers  for  the  good  of  souls.  Let 
the  following  testimony  of  Mr.  Gaskin  speak  as  regards  the 
Established  Church : — 

"  It  is  now  nearly  eighteen  years  since,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  I  was  called  to  occupy  the  important  position  of  in- 
cumbent minister  of  Kiugswood.  Perhaps  it  may  be  thought 
somewhat  out  of  place  here  to  speak  of  the  difficulties  which 
I  found  to  be  surrounding  me  when  I  first  entered  on  that 
peculiar  sphere,  presenting,  as  it  did,  ground  that  as  yet  was 
all  but  unbroken,  so  far  as  the  labours  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  Without  some  refer- 
ence, however,  to  these  difficulties,  the  generous,  unsectarian 


COUNSEL   AND   HELP.  259 

qualities  of  Mr.  Budgett's  mind  cannot  be  fairly  appreciated. 
In  him,  and  in  his  elder  brother — with  whom  I  subsequently 
became  so  closely  connected  by  marriage — I  soon  found  the 
most  able  and  zealous  coadjutors  in  every  good  work.  The 
inhabitants  of  Kingswood  were,  in  many  respects,  a  pecu- 
liar people  ;  but  they  were  open  to  kind  treatment,  and  pos- 
sessed many  excellent  qualities,  for  which  I  shall  always  ad- 
mire them.  But  their  peculiarities  were  of  such  a  kind,  that 
a  young  and  inexperienced  clergyman,  however  well-inten- 
tioned, might  have  involved  himself  in  serious  troubles  with 
them,  had  he  been  left  to  adopt  his  plans  in  ignorance  of  the 
character  of  the  people  amongst  whom  he  had  been  called  to 
labour.  If  the  Messrs.  Budgett — men  who  were  at  the  head 
of  so  large  and  influential  a  body  as  the  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odists constituted — had  wished  to  thwart  the  efforts  of  the 
incumbent  minister,  nothing  was  more  easy  than  for  them  to 
do  so,  without  the  smallest  odium  attaching  to  them,  for  no 
overt  act  on  their  part  would  have  been  necessary.  They 
had  merely  to  stand  by  and  allow  their  young  clergyman  to 
take  his  own  course ;  in  all  reasonable  probability,  before 
three  months  had  elapsed,  he  would  unwittingly  have  brought 
himself  into  collision  with  the  prejudices  of  the  people  to  an 
extent  which  he  would  never  have  removed.  But  instead  of 
this,  they  rendered — without  becoming  one  whit  the  less 
Wesleyan  Methodists,  and  I  received — without  being  one 
whit  less  a  churchman,  co-operation  of  the  most  cordial  and 
liberal  kind.  Indeed,  I  do  not  recollect  a  single  occasion  of 
my  asking  their  assistance  in  any  measure  I  might  wish  to 
carry  out  for  the  spiritual  or  temporal  advantage  of  the 
place,  without  the  immense  influence  which  a  long  well-spent 
life  had  given  them  among  the  people  being  most  unreserved- 
ly placed  at  my  command.  Their  counsel  was  always  given 
in  the  kindest  and  most  courteous  manner,  and  their  purse 
was  open  to  an  extent  far  beyond  any  thing  that  ever  ap- 


260  THE  EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE. 

peared  to  the  public  eye.  To  this  generous  and  liberal  bear- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  Messrs.  Budgctt,  I  refer,  under  the 
divine  blessing,  much  of  the  kind  feeling  that  has  prevailed 
among  all  parties  in  Kingswood  for  so  many  years,  much  of 
the  success  which  has  attended  the  efforts  of  the  different 
denominations  of  Christians  there  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  people,  and  much  of  that  personal  confidence  reposed  in 
me,  and  that  personal  attachment  cherished  for  me  by  my 
former  parishioners." 

We  have  already  seen  on  what  relations  he  lived  with 
Mr.  Glanville,  the  excellent  Independent  minister  of  the 
place.  When  he  was  about  to  erect  a  new  "  Tabernacle,"  Mr. 
Budgett  gave  his  exertions  to  remove  some  difficulty  as  to 
part  of  the  site,  attended  the  meeting  for  raising  funds,  spoke, 
offered  a  handsome  percentage  on  whatever  should  be  raised^ 
and  tried  to  elicit  one  great  effort,  as  he  had  frequently  done 
before,  by  offering,  that  if  they  raised  seven  hundred  pounds 
that  night,  he  would  make  it  a  thousand. 

Such  a  heart  was  prepared  to  hail  a  movement  like  the 
Evangelical  Alliance.  Into  its  design  he  entered  with  his 
characteristic  ardour ;  its  meetings,  hallowed  and  joyous  to 
all  who  have  taken  part  in  them,  were  to  him  welcome  "  aa 
the  water-springs ;"  and  in  connexion  with  it  he  formed,  as 
many  others  have  formed,  some  of  the  most  precious  friend- 
ships of  his  life.  When  it  was  debated  in  the  family  wheth- 
er the  house  should  be  enlarged  by  adding  some  spacious 
rooms,  he  was  very  indifferent,  leaving  it  chiefly  to  his  chil- 
dren to  decide;  but  when  some  one -observed  that  such  a 
large  room  would  be  very  convenient  to  gather  the  Alliance 
friends  together,  he  at  once  said,  "  0  yes,  then  let  it  be 
done."  His  warehouse  chapel  in  Nelson  Street  had  been 
previously  honoured  by  a  meeting  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  Alliance. 

Mr.  Budgett  was  "  a  neighbour  "  to  the  people  of  Kings- 


METHODISM  AND  THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD.      261 

wood ;  thousands  of  his  gold  and  thousands  of  his  hours 
were  given  for  their  weal,  and  to  the  last  his  care  was  for 
the  maintenance  amongst  them  of  those  means  of  grace  which 
had  been  so  much  blessed.  Dating  from  the  time  of  hia 
boyhood,  he  had  seen  a  marked  improvement  in  the  place, 
and  toward  that  improvement  his  own  influence,  that  of  his 
brother,  and  the  family  generally  had  powerfully  contributed. 
The  blessing  of  God  on  the  labours  of  the  Methodists  had 
been  the  most  manifest  agency  in  this  good  work,  and  though 
Mr.  Budgett  had  the  pain  to  see  those  labours  seiiously  hin- 
dered in  his  last  months  by  a  violent  agitation,  that  only 
offered  to  him  a  new  opportunity  of  sealing  his  testimony  of 
affection  to  the  neighbourhood,  as  of  his  attachment  to 
Methodism,  by  acts  of  wide-hearted  and  wonderful  munifi- 
cence to  sustain  Methodist  agencies  for  the  future  good  of 
the  people  he  loved. 

We  shall  best  close  this  chapter,  as  we  did  the  last,  by  a 
sketch  from  Mr.  Gaskin : — 

"You  are  aware  of  the  amazing  influence  he  exerted 
whenever  the  interests  of  his  neighbours  demanded  that  it 
should  be  put  forth.  I  shall  confine  my  remarks  here  to 
the  manner  in  which  that  influence  was  acquired.  I  do  not 
think  that  it  must  be  referred  to  his  munificence,  to  his  per- 
sonal labours,  or  even  to  his  peculiar  and  varied  talents. 
We  may,  any  of  us,  call  to  mind  instances  in  which  none  of 
these  have  been  wanting,  and  yet  there  has  been  a  marvel- 
lous lack  of  influence.  I  have  always  conceived  that  his 
power  for  good  over  the  minds  of  his  neighbours  must  be  re- 
ferred to  the  gentleness  of  his  disposition  and  manners,  with 
the  unqualified  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  his  principles 
which  he  inspired.  It  is  thus  I  trace  the  origin  and  growth 
of  the  influence  which  he  exercised  over  me  ;  and  it  is  thus, 
I  am  persuaded,  that  the  humblest  of  his  neighbours  who 
are  capable  of  drawing  the  deduction,  will  account  for  the 


262  THE  "GOAL  HAULIERS." 

influence  which  he  exercised  over  them.  A  man,  whose  fru- 
gal industry  might  have  enabled  him  to  accumulate  a  small 
sum  of  money  for  a  time  of  need,  seemed  perfectly  happy 
about  it  when  Mr.  Budgett  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  take 
charge  of  it ;  I  need  scarcely  add  that  while  the  poor  man 
felt  that  his  money  was  secure,  he  knew  also  that  the  thrift 
and  forethought  of  which  his  savings  were  a  proof,  would  be 
well  rewarded  by  one  who  loved  to  encourage  such  a  dispo- 
sition. The  very  'hauliers'  on  the  road  between  Kings- 
wood  and  Bristol  perceived  that  in  Mr.  Budgett  they  had 
one  who  differed  widely  from  most  of  those  with  whom,  by 
their  carelessness,  they  were  constantly  bringing  themselves 
into  collision.  At  one  point  of  the  road  I  have  witnessed 
painful  altercations  between  these  rough  spirits  and  gentle- 
men who  have  been  interrupted  by  their  ponderous  waggons : 
angry  words  from  the  party  incommoded  have  called  forth 
a  volley  of  abusive  and  profane  language,  accompanied  with 
a  violence  of  gesticulation  that  threatened  a  breach  of  the 
peace ;  while,  perhaps  only  a  few  minutes  before,  an  inter- 
ruption of  a  similar  kind  between  my  relative  and  one  of  the 
same  men  had  terminated  in  a  very  different  spirit.  '  Here, 
Milesome,'  he  would  say,  '  oblige  me  by  drawing  aside  the 
head  of  your  "  shafter," — ay,  thank  you  ;  never  mind  the 
"  leader,"  I  '11  manage  him  myself.  Always  have  your  eye 
on  your  horses  and  on  anything  that  is  coming  near  you  in 
either  direction, — that's  your  business,  you  know,  while  you 
are  on  the  road  with  your  team, — take  care  to  begin  draw- 
ing your  horses  aside  the  moment  you  sec  a  carriage  of  any 
kind  coming,  if  you  think  you  are  in  the  way ;  it  saves  time, 
and,  what  is  more,  it  prevents  unkind  words  sometimes. 
There,  thank  you,  good  morning ! '  All  this  would  be  ut- 
tered in  his  usual  quick  but  clear  mode  of  speaking  while 
the  man  would  be  getting  his  horses  and  waggons  on  one 
side.  There  would  be  the  expression  of  good  humour  beam- 


WAGGONS  ON  THE  WAY.  263 

ing  from  the  eyes  of  our  swarthy  friend  ;  he  seemed  to  feel 
that  he  was  treated  like  one  of  our  own  species,  and  he  would 
acknowledge  it  by  a  respectful  touch  of  the  hat  and  a  hearty 
response  to  the  morning's  salutation, — '  And  a  good  morning 
to  you,  gentlemen  I '  I  remember  we  were  called  one  Satur- 
day afternoon,  rather  urgently,  into  Bristol.  As  we  neared 
the  gate,  by  the  '  Fire  Engine'  public  house,  we  perceived 
that  the  road  was  literally  blocked  up  by  'return'  waggons 
and  horses,  the  drivers  of  which  were  in  the  public  house. 

A  boy  was  sent  for  the  drivers.   '  Why,  is  that  you  B ! ' 

exclaimed  Mr.  Budgett,  as  a  stout-built  fellow  with  a  face 
like  a  sweep's  came  rushing  out  of  the  house,  grasping  his 
heavy  whip  in  the  one  hand  and  hastily  drawing  the  back  of 
the  other  over  his  mouth,  fresh  from  the  can, — '  I  'm  sorry 
to  see  you  there ;  here,  come  round  to  me,' — then,  lowering 

his  voice,  he  said,  '  B ,  my  poor  fellow,  you  have  a 

wife  and  children  at  home.  Have  they  any  thing  to  eat  ? ' 
'  Not  much,  I  be  afeared,  Sir,'  said  the  man,  trying  to  force 
a  smile  into  his  countenance,  though  he  evidently  felt 
ashamed.  '  Well,  tell  me  now,'  continued  Mr.  Budgett, 
'  how  much  have  you  just  spent  ? '  '  Why,  threepence, — but 
I  had  it  gee'd  me  by  th'  lady  'at  hat  t'  call.'  '  Well  never 
mind  who  gave  it  you,  but  tell  me  what  you  spent  as  you 
went  into  Bristol  this  morning  ? '  '  Why,  threepence.'  '  Well, 
the  lady  didn't  give  you  that ;  but  no  matter  how  you  came 
by  the  money  so  that  it  was  honestly  obtained.  What  I 
want  you  to  think  about  is  this : — By  your  own  showing  you 
have  spent  sixpence  to-day  on  beer ;  if  you  have  done  the 
same  every  day  this  week,  and  I  fear  you  have,  then  you 
have  three  shillings  in  your  pocket  less  than  you  might  have 
had ;  now  as  you  go  along,  just  consider  how  many  little 
things  that  three  shillings  would  have  bought  for  the  real 
eomfort  of  your  wife,  yourself,  and  your  children.  You  say 


264  EXPOSTULATION  WITH  A  TOPEE. 

you  fear  they  have  bat  little  to  eat  at  home  now.  and  you 
have  spent  sixpence  on  yourself!  Is  that  kind?  Nay, 
don't  make  any  excuse.  I  know  you  feel  you  have  done 
wrong.  Don't,  my  poor  fellow,  repeat  it.  One  word  more  ; 
if  you  persist  in  this  habit  you  will  become  a  drunkard, 
and  the  Bible  tells  you,  "  Drunkards  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God  ;"  it  will  lead  you  into  all  wickedness,  and 
the  Bible  tells  you,  "  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell ! " 

B ,'  he  added  very  solemnly, '  think  of  this,  tell  yeur 

companions  there  what  I  have  said  to  you ;  and  above  all, 
pray  that  God  may  bless  what  I  have  said  to  you,  that  He 
may  make  you  a  more  thoughtful  and  a  better  man.'  Poor 

B listened ;  the  assumed  smile  disappeared,  his  face 

sank  almost  into  his  bosom,  and  he  became  evidently 
ashamed  to  look  at  us.  At  the  close  of  Mr.  Budgett's  re- 
marks, he  touched  his  hat  in  a  respectful  manner,  and  said 
with  much  apparent  feeling, '  Thank  you,  Sir ;  it's  very  good 
for  gentlemen  such  as  you,  to  talk  this  ways  to  poor  men 
like  me.1 

"  Here  is  the  clue  to  his  influence  over  his  poorer 
neighbours, — an  influence  which  he  was  ever  aiming  to  turn 
to  their  own  advantage — an  application,  this,  of  that  influ- 
ence, to  which  they  were  most  sensibly  alive.  Of  this  I 
have  continual  evidence  in  the  communications  I  am  still 
receiving  from  Kingswood.  Not  one  out  of  many  letters  I 
have  had  from  that  place  since  his  removal  which  has  not 
made  some  touching  allusion  to  it.  '  The  whole  neighbour- 
hood mourns,'  says  one  ;  '  We  have  lost  a  FRIEND  !  I  dare 
not  trust  myself  to  write  more,'  is  the  remark  of  another ; 
'  There  is  a  void  at  Kingswood  which  will  never  be  filled, 
observes  a  third.  For  myself  I  may  add  in  the  words  of  a 
favourite  writer, '  Moveor  equidem  tali  amico  orbatus,  qualis, 
ut  arbitror,  nemo  unquam  erit ;  ut  confirmari  possum, 


FRIENDSHIP.  265 

nemo  certe  fuit, — sed  tamen  recordationc  nostra  amicitia 
sicfruor,  ut  beate  vizisse  videar,  quia  cum  eo  vizerim.' M  * 

Mr.  Gaskin  justifies  this  strong  language  by  a  record 
of  Mr.  Budgett's  conduct  as  friend,  which  shows  that  he 
deserved  such  an  affection  as  he  found,  and  fully  prepares 
one  for  the  question  wherewith  that  remarkable  narrative 
concludes — "  Will  it  be  matter  of  surprise  should  his  name 
be  one  of  the  last  that  trembles  on  my  dying  lips  ? " 

*  For  I  am  distressed  at  being  bereaved  of  such  a  friend, — as  none, 
I  conceive,  will  be  to  me  again,  and,  as  I  can  confidently  assert;  no  one 
ever  was; — but  yet  I  so  enjoy  the  recollection  of  our  friendship,  that  I 
•eem  to  have  lived  happily  because  I  lived  with  him. 


12 


CHAPTER  VIII 

IN      THE      FAMILY. 

•O  the  blowings  of  a  borne  where  old  and  young  mix  kindly, 
The  young  nnawed,  the  old  nncbilled,  in  unreserved  communion." 

Tom 

You  have  already  seen  Mr.  Budgett  in  his  father's  house, 
seen  the  love  of  parent,  brother,  and  sister  which  he  cherish- 
ed there,  seen  him  leave  it  with  a  rare  title  to  the  parental 
blessing,  and  seen  him  afterwards  twice  bestowing  his  all  for 
his  sisters  and  his  brother.  Before  me  lie  the  means  of  de- 
tailing his  deeds  of  filial  love  for  years — means  singularly 
afforded  by  one  detached  scrap  of  memorandum,  jotted  down 
for  a  purpose  that  is  manifest.  One  is  almost  tempted  to 
draw  aside  the  obscuring  veil  of  generalities,  and  show  the 
individual  facts  ;  but,  perhaps  that  would  only  be  to  indulge 
one's  love  of  displaying  a  most  beautiful  spectacle  of  noble- 
ness, humility,  self-denial,  and  faith.  '  That  such  a  youth 
should  prosper  no  man  can  wonder  ;  at  least  none  with  faith 
in  the  fifth  commandment. 

His  early  zeal  for  the  happiness  of  the  family  did  not 
forsake  him  when  prosperity  came  flooding  his  coffers  and 
enlarging  his  sphere.  That  good  mother,  whose  whole  life 
had  been  to  him  a  gentle,  wise,  and  saintly  instruction,  lived 
to  see  him  far  up  the  eminence  which  rewarded  his  faith  in 


ms  MOTHER'S  END.  267 

the  commandment  with  promise.     In  a  letter  to  his  sister 
Jane,  he  thus  speaks  : — 

"  Kingswood  Hill,  Jan.  30,  1831. 

"  MY  DEAR  SISTER, — I  am  just  returned  from  Winter- 
bourn  from  beholding  one  of  the  most  interesting  sights  this 
earth  affords — I  mean  the  happy,  truly  happy,  sick  and  dy- 
ing bed  of  a  saint  ripe  for  glory.  Such  is  our  dear  mother. 
You  have  seen  her ;  she  is  not  now  less  happy,  only  less  sen- 
sible of  her  pain,  than  when  you  left.  Her  soul  still  tri- 
umphs in  prospect  of  the  glory  that  awaits  her,  and  which  in 
all  probability  she  will  in  a  few  days  be  introduced  to. 
'  Mark  the  perfect  man,'  &c. ;  how  is  that  passage  illustrated 
in  her  experience  !  May  it  be  equally  so  in  yours  and  mine. 
In  order  to  that  we  have  only  to  live  the  life  of  the  right- 
eous and  we  are  sure  to  die  the  death.  I  hope,  my  dear 

J ,  you  are  making  progress ;    remember  we   are  no 

longer  happy  or  safe  than  we  are  vigorously  pressing  forward. 
To  halt  is  to  go  back.  *  *  *  * 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

«  S.  B.» 

At  the  outset,  we  might  have  expected  that  his  impulse 
to  rise  sprung  really  from  a  love  of  money  or  personal  am- 
bition, though  that  cloaked  itself  under  regard  for  the  pros- 
pects of  his  numerous  brothers  and  sisters.  But  as  he  rose, 
as  his  own  family  increased,  as  new  honours,  new  circles, 
new  allurements  came  within  his  grasp,  how  did  he  remem- 
ber those  of  his  own  house  ?  Did  he  keep  them  at  a  dis- 
tance ?  Did  he  never  do  them  a  kindness  but  when  teased  ? 
Did  he  shun  their  society  and  leave  them  out  of  sight  ?  Ask 
them  :  there  they  are  clustered  about  him, — brothers,  sisters, 
brothers-in-law,  nephews,  and  nieces ;  ask  them  and  see 


268  FAMILY  COUNCILS. 

whether  their  tones  as  they  speak  of  "  brother  Samuel,"  or 
"  uncle  Samuel,"  do  not  make  your  breast  feel  very  full 

He  who  is  what  Samuel  Budgett  was  as  son  and  brother 
has  written  his  history  as  husband  beforehand,  and  we  need 
not  write  it  again.  As  a  father,  he  ever  sought  to  make  his 
children  happy  at  home  ;  he  would  provide  them  with  all 
means  of  innocent  amusement— whatever  the  grounds  could 
yield  to  give  them  healthful  play,  with  donkeys  to  ride,  cu- 
rious poultry  to  rear  and  study,  rabbits,  guinea-pigs,  and 
such  like  playmates  as  might  entertain  without  endangering 
them.  His  singular  openness  of  heart,  too,  showed  itself  in 
a  peculiar  form  ;  he  made  his  children,  from  their  earliest 
years,  his  confidants  and  his  counsellors.  They  knew  his 
business  affairs  intimately,  and  in  every  perplexing  case  he 
would  gather  them  round  him,  with  their  mother  and  aunt, 
and  take  their  advice.  His  standing  council  was  formed  of 
the  whole  family,  even  at  an  age  when  other  fathers  would 
think  it  cruel  and  absurd  to  perplex  a  child  with  weighty 
concerns.  But  with  him  all  such  concerns,  though  handled 
with  giant  energy,  were  viewed  with  Christian  quiet,  as  con- 
nected with  the  hand  of  Providence  and  capable  of  being 
controlled  by  prayer.  What,  therefore,  others  would  regard 
with  worldly  anxiety  alone,  he  would  regard  with  solicitude 
certainly,  but  with  solicitude  balanced  by  faith.  In  such  a 
temper  he  could  disclose  all  his  perplexities  to  his  children 
without  lading  their  spirits  with  worldly  care.  This  remark- 
able confidence  displayed  itself  consistently ;  and  much 
earlier  than  usual  he  gave  his  sons  a  responsibility  in  the 
business,  and  showed  a  deference  for  their  judgment  most 
uncommon  for  a  man  whose  fortune  was  of  his  own  gather- 
ing. Men  of  that  class  arc  prone  to  treat  their  sons  as  chil- 
dren when  they  are  youths,  and  as  youths  when  they  are  men, 
as  if  they  thought  that  because  the  wisdom  of  the  family 
was  born  with  them  so  with  them  it  will  die.  A  proof  of 


RELIGIOUS  STATE  OF  CHILDREN.  269 

this  perfect  reliance  upon  his  children  was  given  in  the  fact, 
that  when  the  eldest  son  was  only  about  twenty  years  of  age, 
te  allowed  his  Four  boys  to  go  alone  upon  the  continent  for 
about  seven  weeks.  Such  a  stretch  of  confidence  could  only 
be  justified  by  very  ample  evidence  that  it  would  not  be 
abused  ;  but  the  result  testified  that  he  did  not  misjudge. 
In  matters  of  expenditure  the  same  confidence  was  mani- 
fested ;  and  when  his  will  was  made  it  was  by  consultation 
with  them  all  unitedly.  But  this  confidence  was  as  far  from 
indulgence  as  can  be  ;  it  was  measured  and  calculated,  and 
had  it  been  abused,  a  strictness  as  measured  and  calculated 
would  have  immediately  taken  its  place.  Mr.  Gaskin  has 
beautifully  remarked  that  he  knew  how  to  create  a  virtue  by 
giving  one  credit  for  it,  and  assuming  him  to  be  incapable  of 
the  opposite  vice.  This  mode  of  treatment  he  applied  with 
great  effect  around  his  own  hearth. 

In  seeking  moral  excellence  in  his  children,  Mr.  Budgett 
took  it  as  his  first  maxim,  that  they  were  by  nature  inclined 
to  evil,  and  therefore,  though  capable  of  restraint  and  polish 
by  education,  must  be  alienated  from  their  Creator  and  liable 
to  run  into  open  iniquity  unless  they  become  partakers  of  a 
new  nature.  Born  of  Adam's  stock,  they  partook  of  Adam's 
taint ;  born  of  a  race  of  sinners  they  lay  under  the  curse  of 
sin  ;  but  born  under  the  provisions  of  a  redemption  whereby 
all  families  on  the  earth  are  blessed,  under  the  reign  of  a 
Saviour  through  whom  the  "  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  to 
justification  of  life,"  they  were  capable  of  being  created  anew 
in  the  image  of  God.  These  two  things,  that  his  children 
were  sinful  and  needed  a  new  birth,  that  they  were  redeemed 
and  might  be  born  again,  were  certain  and  serious  things 
with  Mr.  Budgett.  And  these  are  the  two  things  which  all 
who  would  promote  goodness  upon  earth,  in  family,  nation,  or 
world,  must  lay  to  heart.  Forgetting  them,  men  whiten  the 
outside  of  the  sepulchre,  but  the  dead  men's  bones  are  hideoui 


270  A   NEW   HEABT   NEEDED. 

within.  The  great  heresy  and  ignis  fatuus  of  our  day  is 
the  doctrine  that  man  is  good  at  heart ;  a  tree  to  be  trained, 
not  needing  a  graft.  Some  avow  it,  some  stealthily  diffuse 
it,  some  proceed  upon  it  unconsciously.  To  the  whole,  to  the 
sinless,  Christ  has  no  mission.  Fallen,  but  redeemed  ;  prone 
to  evil,  but  capable  of  being  made  holy ;  loving  the  creature, 
but  capable  of  loving  the  Creator ;  under  the  dominion  of 
sin,  but  capable  of  -being  freed  from  sin  and  made  servants 
of  God — that  is  the  condition  of  all  children,  and  Mr.  Bud- 
gett  happily  knew  it  to  be  the  condition  of  his. 

From  their  early  years  his  prayers  and  influence,  joined 
with  those  of  their  mother  and  aunt,  were  directed  to  this 
one  end,  that  God  might  "  take  away  the  heart  of  stone, 
and  give  them  a  heart  of  flesh."  And  in  that  family,  so 
united  and  so  open  of  heart,  think  you  not  there  were  the 
seeds  of  mighty  sins,  had  those  seeds  been  left  to  grow — 
enough  indication  of  a  fallen  nature  to  cost  hours  of  extreme 
anxiety,  of  most  importunate  prayer  ?  Family  altar,  sabbath 
holiness,  works  of  charity,  friends  who  feared  God,  all  these 
advantages  were  richly  enjoyed  by  those  children  ;  but  tem- 
pers and  inclinations  which  might  mar  their  whole  life,  and 
a  forgetfulness  of  God  which  might  mar  their  eternity,  were 
not  to  be  charmed  away  from  human  nature  by  outward 
agencies  like  these,  without  the  close  and  inward  acting  of 
God's  own  Spirit  on  the  heart.  You  do  not  believe  in  this 
close  and  inward  action  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  to  make  the 
bad  heart  good.  You  hand  poor  man  over  to  a  drear,  chill 
world,  without  a  Father  nigh  at  hand,  without  a  Saviour  who 
actually  does  deal  with  his  bosom  and  bless  it  with  deliver- 
ance from  sin.  You  see  Divine  power  upholding  a  world  to 
contain  us,  a  sun  to  light  and  warm  us,  renewing  the  herbs 
and  trees,  the  generation  of  beasts  and  birds  for  us,  making 
all  earth  alive  with  ten  million  million  agencies  to  feed  and 
clothe  and  variously  delight  us ;  yet  you  think  that  the  thing 


THE  NEW  BERTH.  271 

which  is  far  more  to  us  than  all  the  rest, — the  way  to  find  a 
quiet,  holy  heart,  which  may  dwell  here  in  love  and  good- 
ness,— is  precisely  the  one  thing  He  has  left  to  be  settled 
by  the  philosophers  instead  of  providing  it  Himself.  Not  so 
thought  Mr.  Budgett ;  not  so  his  helpers  at  home :  they  had 
a  deep,  fast  faith  that  God  is  love,  that  His  love  is  close  and 
fatherly,  that  it  makes  man's  heart  its  peculiar  care  because, 
man's  heart,  in  its  own  joy  or  bitterness,  gives  a  taste  to  all 
things  here.  They  believed  that  He,  the  holy  Father,  is 
nigh,  very  nigh,  and  knows  us ;  that  in  Christ's  sacrifice  the 
justice  which  would  forbid  his  meeting  with  the  vile  is  satis- 
fied, and  that  when  we  turn  to  Him  now,  crying,  "  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more 
worthy  to  be  called  thy  son,"  he  sends  forth  his  own  Spirit 
into  our  heart ;  who  there  works  a  wonder — a  wonder  which 
holy  men  of  God  call  a  "  new  creation,"  which  the  Son  of 
God  called  a  "  new  birth,"  and  which  makes  us  delight  to 
commune  with  our  Maker,  and  sets  us  upon  battling  against 
sin  as  "  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible."  That  his  children 
might  thus  be  changed  was  his  earnest  solicitude  :  and  in 
that  his  heart  was  comforted ;  for  early,  very  early  he  saw 
them,  as  one  by  one  they  sprang  up,  smitten  with  deep  con- 
trition for  their  sins,  turn  earnestly  to  the  Redeemer,  seek 
his  mercy,  find  it,  and  live  to  make  his  heart  glad  in  life's 
warm  heyday,  and  to  cheer  the  hours  that  bordered  on  the 
grave. 

The  religion  his  children  were  taught  to  seek  they  were 
taught  to  practise,  not  only  in  the  quiet  virtues  of  home  life, 
but  in  the  active  toil  of  piety  : — at  Cock  Road  and  other 
schools,  among  the  young  people  of  the  Association,  in  the 
cottages  of  the  poor,  and  in  every  place  Kingswood  afforded 
for  training  them  in  the  duties  of  a  Christian  neighbour.  To 
his  daughter,  when  yet  a  child,  he  thus  writes,  showing  how 
he  placed  the  one  thing  needful  first  before  their  minds : — 


272  LETTER  TO   A   CHILD. 

"Bristol,  February  22<J,  1848. 

"Mr  DEAR  SARAH  ANN, — Your  kind  note  I  duly  re- 
ceived by  the  hand  of  your  brother  James,  for  which  I  thank 
you.  Be  assured  it  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  know  that  I 
am  affectionately  remembered  by  any  member  of  my  family, 
and  especially  by  my  own  little  daughter.  I  hope  you  are 
endeavouring  to  be  a  good  girl.  If  you  knew  how  much  the 
happiness  of  those  who  love  you  depended  on  your  conduct, 
I  think  that  if  nothing  else  proved  a  sufficient  motive  to  good 
behaviour  that  would ;  but  then  my  dear  little  girl  knows 
very  well  that  her  own  happiness  both  in  this  world  and  the 
next  depends  on  her  giving  her  heart  to  God.  Do  not,  my 
dear  child,  live  one  hour  without  being  satisfied  that  God  is 
just  now  pleased  with  you,  that  is,  that  you  have  His  favour ; 
for  we  are  happy  if  we  share  His  smile,  His  counsel,  and  His 
care.  May  you,  my  dear  child,  be  truly  devoted  to  God  in 
youth,  and  then  you  will  be  prepared  for  a  useful  life  or  fit 
for  early  death !  I  dare  say  how  happy  you  all  are.  You 
may  write  to  me  as  often  as  you  please  and  I  will  endeavour 
to  answer  your  letters.  Tell  me  all  the  workings  of  your 
little  mind,  all  your  hopes  and  all  your  fears,  all  your  joys 
and  all  your  sorrows.  Please  give  my  very  kind  love  to  all 
at  home,  and  believe  me,  my  dear  Sarah  Ann, 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"  8.  B." 

The  following  also  testifies  how  much  his  heart  was  oc- 
cupied with  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  children,  and  how  ho 
rejoiced  that  they  were  all  walking  in  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness:— 

"  flfracombe,  Saturday,  Nov.  6<A,  1847, 
"  Eight  o'clock. 

u  Mr  DEAR  LITTLE  SALLY, — Your  kind  letter  to  mamma 
we  duly  received,  and  I  would  have  written  to  you  before 


LETTER   TO   HIS   DAUGHTER.  273 

now,  but  I  have  been  very  unwell — so  weak  that  I  have 
scarcely  been  able  to  read  or  write  anything  without  doing 
rue  harm  ;  but  I  am  thankful  to  inform  you  I  am  now  get- 
ting better,  and  I  hope  soon  to  recover  my  strength.  I  as- 
sure you  we  think  and  talk  of  you  very  often,  and  we  do  not 
cease  to  pray  for  you.  What  a  mercy  it  is,  my  dear  child, 
that  as  a  family  we  are  all  seeking  our  happiness  from  one 
source,  and  that  the  right  one.  How  insignificant  does  every 
thing  else  look  when  compared  with  this,  even  in  this  life  and 
in  the  possession  of  health,  wealth,  and  all  that  the  world 
calls  great  and  good ;  but  look  a  little  further — a  sick  bed,  a 
dying  hour,  a  judgment  day,  all  of  which  will  very  soon  be  pre- 
sent,— and  how  then  shall  we  value  all  beside  this  one  thing 
needful,  this  Divine  love  !  The  Lord  fill  my  dear  child's  heart, 
and  then  from  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  will 
speak,  and  you  will,  you  must,  however  unconsciously,  be  made 
useful  to  others. 

"Tis  worth  living  for  this, 

To  administer  bliss, 
And  salvation  in  Jesus's  name. 

I  believe  we  are  all  as  a  family  going  to  heaven.  Glory  be 
to  God!  *  *  *  '  *  *  * 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  PAPA  and  MAMMA." 

In  describing  the  entertainments  of  the  Sunday  School 
children  in  the  grounds,  we  introduced  his  second  son,  Edwin 
In  him,  more  than  in  any  member  of  the  family,  appeared 
the  stronger  traits  of  his  father's  character,  with  touches  of 
worth  peculiar  to  himself.  Frank,  vivacious,  open,  with  a  clear 
head,  a  quick  glance,  a  commanding  look,  prompt,  firm  ac- 
tion, a  hearty  laugh,  a  mellow  voice,  and  a  musical  taste 
which  on  a  summer  eve  would  sometimes  make  the  place' joyful 
12* 


274  THE  LAST  SONG  OP  THE  BKOTHEBS. 

with  outdoor  melody ;  in  business,  a  master  for  decision,  order 
and  authority  ;  at  home,  a  son  in  love  and  obedience,  a  brother 
to  be  admired  and  delighted  in ;  in  school,  a  teacher  ever 
diligent ;  in  prayer,  devout,  fervent,  and  prevailing ;  in  the 
cottage,  a  friend  to  help,  to  warn,  to  plead  upon  his  knees ; 
among  young  friends,  a  hearty  happy  companion,  a  kindly, 
winning  advocate  for  devotedness  to  God,  who  would  tell  of 
the  blessings  to  be  found  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  lead 
the  way  thither,  and  stay  in  long  and  eager  wrestlings.  Such 
was  Edwin,  and  if  all  delighted  in  him  do  you  wonder  ?  If 
you  think  that  I  say  what  he  was  not,  go  and  ask  any  who 
knew  him,  and  they  are  many. 

The  summer  of  '49  shone  bright  on  Kingswood  HilL 
All  things  were  flourishing ;  the  business  was  swelling  with 
prosperity;  new  and  most  charming  friendships  had  been, 
opened  to  the  family ;  the  father  was  hale  and,  as  men  say, 
young ;  the  eldest  son  on  the  point  of  a  union  wherein  all  must 
every  way  rejoice ;  the  house  was  the  scene  of  a  long  visit  from 
an  eminent  servant  of  Christ  whose  mild  goodness  would  be 
a  beauty  to  be  estimated  there.  On  the  lawn  the  whole 
staff  of  their  men  had  feasted,  the  merry  Sunday  School 
children  sported  while  Edwin  was  life  to  them  all ;  and  at 
Edwin's  own  request  the  boys  of  Kingswood  School  had  ao 
entertainment  and  an  evening's  play.  The  rest  shall  be  told 
by  the  friend  we  quoted  before. 

"  The  Sabbath  of  July  22d  found  Edwin,  as  usual,  doing 
and  receiving  good.  In  the  evening,  after  a  profitable  day 
in  the  school  and  sanctuary,  he  united  with  his  brothers  in 
singing  Charles  Wesley's  beautiful  hymn,  commencing, — 

'How  liappy  every  child  of  grace, 

Who  knows  hia  sins  forgiven! 
Tins  earth,  he  cries,  is  not  my  place, 

I  sock  my  place  in  heaven; 


EDWIN'S  LAST  CLASS  MEExmo.  275 

A  country  far  from  mortal  sight: — 

Yet,  0 1  by  faith  I  see 
The  land  of  rest,  the  saints'  delight, 

The  heaven  prepared  for  me.' 

The  united  worshippers  seemed  to  rise  with  the  spirit  of 
their  theme ;  and  when  they  came  to  the  last  verse  but  one, 
the  sentiment  was  in  remarkable  unison  with  what  was  to 
follow.  At  that  moment  their  father,  who  was  just  leaving 
the  room,  struck  with  the  sweetness  of  the  tune  and  at  once 
awed  and  delighted  with  the  sentiments,  turned  back  and 
lingered  a  few  moments  longer,  while  his  children  were  sing- 
ing, in  a  strain  in  which  Edwin's  voice  was  neither  feeblest 
nor  least  harmonious, — 

'Then  let  me  suddenly  remove, 

That  hidden  life  to  share ; 
I  shall  not  lose  my  friends  above, 

But  more  enjoy  them  there. 
There  we  in  Jesu's  praise  shall  join, 

His  boundless  love  proclaim; 
And  solemnise  in  songs  divine 

The  marriage  of  the  Lamb.' 

An  aspiration  how  soon  to  be  realised  ! 

"  As  a  member  of  the  Wesleyan  Society  in  Kingswood, 
he  was  very  regular  and  punctual  in  attendance  on  his  class  ; 
and  on  Tuesday  evening  he  was  promptly  there,  and  in  his 
usual  seat.  0  how  well  to  be  in  the  way  of  duty  with  death 
BO  near !  His  leader  asked  him.  with  commendable  fidelity, 
if  he  could  then  testify  that  he  was  assuredly  born  again, 
made  a  child  of  God,  and  consequently  an  heir  of  Heaven. 
Edwin  humbly,  but  distinctly,  replied, :  I  foel  thankful  that 
I  do  know  that  I  ain  a  child  of  God.  I  have  had  in  the  past 
week  seasons  of  communion  with  Him,  and  desire  more  con- 
stantly to  realise  His  presence,  and  live  to  His  glory.'  The 


276  EDWIN  IN  CHOLERA. 

meeting  concluded,  and  he  was  in  apparently  perfect  health 
and  so  he  retired  to  rest.  The  next  morning  he  complained 
a  little.  About  the  middle  of  the  day  the  symptoms  iu- 
creased  upon  him  and  became  serious,  producing,  besidei 
pain,  faintness  and  prostration  of  strength.  His  eldest 
brother  sent  in  the  utmost  alarm  for  the  surgeon,  and  a  phy- 
sician besides,  who  for  two  hours  resorted  to  every  means 
within  their  power  to  stay  the  attack,  but  all  to  no  purpose. 
He  was  then  hurried  home  in  a  close  carriage  ;  cramp  super- 
vened, and  before  evening  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  dis- 
ease was  cholera.  At  five  o'clock  he  was  assisted  to  bed,  and 
asked,  '  Supposing  the  worst  should  come,  do  you  feel  any 
fear  ? '  '0  no,'  he  said, '  I  feel  I  am  safe  ! '  and  responded  in 
the  affirmative  to  some  observations  which  were  made  in  re- 
ference to  having  the  fear  of  death  taken  away.  The  nature 
of  the  disease  prevented  further  conversation,  excepting  so 
far  as  that  he  occasionally  gave. a  brief  assurance  of  his  calm 
repose  upon  the  atonement  of  his  adorable  Saviour,  and  that 
His  presence  was  manifested  to  him.  His  mind  was  per- 
fectly composed  and  tranquil  all  night,  while  the  vital  powers, 
notwithstanding  all  remedies  that  were  used,  were  sinking 
fast ;  and  at  half-past  twelve  on  Thursday  morning,  July 
26th,  he  gently  fell  asleep  in  Christ." 

This  was  no  slight  stroke ;  and  how  was  it  borne  ?  That 
shall  be  told,  not  by  me,  but  by  an  eye-witness.  Mr.  Car- 
vosso  says — 

"  The  moment  he  either  felt  or  saw  the  rod,  '  /  have 
sinned,'  was  on  his  lips  and  in  the  depths  of  his  heart. 
Hence,  in  the  distressing  loss  of  his  lovely  son  Edwin,  com- 
pared with  the  painful  consciousness  of  his  own  deserts,  the 
stroke  of  the  cholera  and  the  bitter  bereavement  were 
'  light.'  The  dread  evening  when  his  loved  son  was  writhing 
in  the  grasp  of  the  disease,  leaving  him  in  other  hands,  he 
meets  his  class  and  then  takes  a  poor,  intelligent,  pious  man, 


THE  HOUSE   OF  MOURNING.  277 

a  local  preacher,  '  his  own  son  in  the  faith,'  and  retires  in 
darkness  to  the  lone  summer-house  in  his  extensive  lawn, 
and  they  long  continued  wrestling  together  'with  strong 
crying  and  tears,' — the  personal  dread  of  His  wrath  who  is 
'  glorious  in  holiness '  absorbing  the  anguish  of  the  purest 
natural  affection.  Returning  in  the  advanced  night  to  his 
awfully  afflicted  dwelling,  with  the  cry,  '  My  sins,  my  sins, 
are  the  cause  of  all  this  !"  his  pious  children  gather  round 
him,  and  all  in  succession,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest, 
are  heard  pleading  with  God  for  their  father's  consolation 
and  deliverance.  This  piercing  apprehension  of  the  evil  of 
sin,  with  the  powerfully  healing  balm  of  Divine  grace,  given 
pre-eminently  in  answer  to  the  '  prayer  of  faith,'  prepared 
him  and  his  family  for  such  a  manifestation  of  passive  piety 
as  I  do  not  recollect  ever  elsewhere  to  have  witnessed.  A 
few  days  afterwards,  returning  from  the  Conference,  expect- 
ing on  entering  his  dwelling  to  enter  a  cloud  whose  '  dark- 
ness might  be  felt,'  what  was  my  surprise  to  find  it  a  true 
dwelling  of  an  Israelite,  all  '  light  within,1  The  darkness 
was  outside ;  here  they  all  walked  in  the  light  of  the  Lord, 
and  all  tears  were  wiped  from  every  eye.  I  beheld,  and  was 
edified  ;  I  wondered,  and  shall  never  forget !  Mr.  Budgett 
not  only  murmured  not,  but  was  ceaseless  in  praises  that  he 
and  his  family  had  been  dealt  with  so  mercifully.  I  knew 
how  he  loved  his  son,  and  what  he  expected  from  him." 

Happy  in  his  own  family,  he  was  solicitous  for  the  con- 
version of  other  young  persons  who  came  within  his  influ- 
ence. That  young  friend  whose  notes  we  have  used  is  an 
example.  From  the  time  that  Methodism  took  root  in 
Kingswood,  there  had  always  been  a  succession  of  lively  and 
pious  men  among  the  colliers ;  and  these,  with  flowing  heart, 
delighted  to  declare  at  the  "  Lovefeasts,"  in  their  own  plain 
speech,  the  great  goodness  of  the  Lord  to  their  souls.  It 
was  not  uncommon  for  persons  to  come 'from  a  distance  to 


278  ATTENTION   TO   YOUNG   PEBSONS. 

hear  and  be  edified  by  these  simple  declarations  of  the  power 
of  grace  to  renew.  One  Easter  Monday  our  young  friend 
»nd  a  sister  had  come  from  Bath  to  Kingswood ;  and  were 
descried  in  the  chapel  by  Mr.  Budgett,  who  knew  their  fami- 
ly. At  the  close  of  the  service  he  went  up  to  them,  and  at 
once  made  himself  their  friend,  and  would  not  be  denied, 
but  home  with  him  they  must  come.  He  soon  won  their  con- 
fidence, and  after  a  while  took  them  out  for  a  walk,  leading 
them  away  to  a  cottage  at  some  distance,  where  a  young 
woman  was  dying  in  Christian  peace.  On  the  way  he 
affectionately  inquired  whether  they  had  given  their  hearts 
to  God,  and  counselled  them  early  to  seek  the  blessings 
which  hallow  youth  and  age.  After  they  had  left  the  cot- 
tage, they  saw  a  crowd,  and  two  men  stripped  to  the  waist 
boxing.  This  hideous  sight,  though  strange  to  them,  was 
only  too  familiar  to  their  new  friend,  who  at  once  hastened 
towards  the  spot  and  with  great  authority  separated  the 
combatants. 

With  this  young  friend  he  maintained  a  frequent  cor- 
respondence, gently  begging  for  two  letters  to  his  one,  in  con- 
sideration of  his  want  of  leisure.  With  many  other  young 
persons  also  he  corresponded,  ever  urging  upon  them  the 
supreme  importance  of  piety.  He  was  exceedingly  fond  of 
having  at  his  own  house  the  youth  of  other  godly  families  ; 
and  cases  occurred  wherein  these  visits  were  the  means  of 
their  conversion,  while  in  no  instance  could  they  reside  in 
that  home  without  becoming  more  and  more  alive  to  the 
charms  of  vital  and  working  godliness.  It  is  not  pleasant 
and  it  is  not  meet  to  write  about  the  living :  this  fact  ex- 
cludes much  we  should  love  to  tell  in  this  chapter  ;  but  the 
rule  is  good  to  be  silent  on  the  virtues  of  those  who  arc  still 
here.  The  only  case  wherein  one  feels  quite  at  home  in 
praising  them,  is  when  worthy  names  are  aspersed  by  un- 
worthy tongues.  Were  it  not  for  this,  we  might  narrate 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH   YOUNG   FRIENDS.  279 

beautiful  instances  of  happy  deeds,  done  under  Mr.  Budgett's 
roof. 

We  may  give  a  few  specimens  of  Mr.  Budgett's  cor- 
respondence with  his  young  friends  ;  it  will  be  seen  how  free 
and  tender  is  his  style,  as  if  it  were  an  elder  brother,  rather 
than  one  so  much  beyond  them  in  age,  and  with  so  much  of 
what  would  induce,  in  most  men,  a  high  sense  of  conse- 
quence. The  first  extract  is  from  a  note  written  to  his 
friend  oft  referred  to,  as  the  date  shows,  only  a  few  days 
before  Edwin's  death ;  and  it  would  seem  as  if  his  thoughts 
were  under  secret  preparation  for  the  event  yet  unforeseen. 

"Eingswood  Hill,  July  18,  1849. 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — I  might  almost  conjecture  you 
had  been  busy  in  hay  harvest  or  something  else,  for  it  seems 
so  long  a  time  since  I  have  either  seen  or  heard  from  you  ; 
at  any  rate  I  hope  you  will  make  some  allowance  for  my 
long  silence  when  I  tell  you  that  I  have  been  from  home, 
and  have  had  company.  Do  you  ever  intend  coming  to 
see  us  again  ?  You  may  be  assured  I,  indeed  we  all,  shall 
be  as  glad  to  see  you  as  ever,  unless  you  stay  away  so  long 
as  to  make  us  forget  you.  But  how  are  you  prospering  in 
the  best  things  ?  What  a  wilderness  does  this  world  seem 
without  the  hope  of  the  Gospel ;  how  exceedingly  uncertain 
is  every  thing  here.  What  a  mercy  we  have  the  Bible. 
Please  write  me  with  your  usual  freedom,  and  believe  me 
with  very  kind  remembrance  to  papa  and  mamma,  &c.;  as 

ever, 

"  Your  sincere  and  affectionate  friend, 

"  S.  B." 

In  the  following  letter  we  see  his  judgment  on  reading 
religious  biography : — 


280  LETTERS. 

"Eingswood  Hill,  February  17,  1849. 

u  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — I  am  of  opinion  that  there  is 
scarcely  any  class  of  reading  more  profitable  to  our  growth 
in  grace  than  choice  pieces  of  religious  biography — such  as 
Brainerd,  Martin,  Fletcher,  Wesley,  Richmond,  Bramwell, 
John  Smith,  M'Cheyne,  Carvosso,  Mrs.  West,  Cryer,  Bing- 
ham,  and  a  host  of  others.  All  good  things  require  to  be 
read  prayerfully  and  in  faith.  Are  we  not  too  apt  to  think 
there  was  something  peculiar  in  the  individuals  rather  than  in 
the  faith  by  which  they  derived  all  their  excellencies  ?  The 
fountain  of  all  good  is  as  full  and  as  free  of  access  now  and 
to  us  as  ever  it  was  to  them,  and  we  have  only  to  exercise 
the  same  faith  and  all  the  good  will  be  as  surely  ours  as 
ever  it  was  theirs.  May  the  Lord  help  my  dear  friend  and 
me  to  enter  more  fully  into  the  gracious  designs  of  our  hea- 
venly Father  concerning  us ! 

"  I  think  you  cannot  help  admiring  the  present  beauti- 
ful weather.  See  how  spring  and  summer  are  approaching 
already  !  The  birds  sing  most  merrily ;  the  days  lengthen 
very  fast ;  the  flowers  are  beginning  to  decorate  the  hedges 
and  banks  ;  the  fields  are  increasing  in  verdure  and  beauty  ; 
and  I  hope  you  and  I  shall  endeavour  to  keep  pace  with  all 
nature  in  praising  our  Creator  and  Redeemer.  Is  it  not 
cheering  to  think  I  know  that  God  is  love,  and  especially 

that  He  loves  me?     Believe  me,  my  dear  E , 

"  Most  affectionately  yours, 

"  S.  B." 

In  another  note  to  his  Bath  friend,  a  note  full  of  kind 
feeling,  I  find  these  remarks : — 

"  We  cannot  indeed  too  highly  value  time :  in  this  I  have 
been  truly  deficient.  If  we  would  rise  early  we  must  begin 
at  the  right  end — that  is  by  going  to  bed  early,  or  all  will  bo 


LETTERS.  281 

lost  labour.  You  must  have  seven  hours  sleep.  An  alarum 
is  a  very  good  thing ;  but  if  we  neglect  the  call  a  few  times, 
like  the  calls  of  the  Spirit  or  of  our  consciences,  it  will  be 
ineffectual. 

"  I  am  glad  you  still  retain  love  to  God  after  seven  years' 
experience.  May  it  be  increased  seven  times  seven  !  I  think 
nothing  is  so  calculated  to  remove  reserve  as  zeal  for  God 
and  humility.  We  think  too  much  of  ourselves  and  not 
enough  of  the  importance  of  being  found  faithful ;  may  you, 
my  dear  friend,  become  truly  simple  of  heart  and  dead  to  the 
opinion  of  others  when  it  stands  in  the  way  of  duty.  You 
have  not  wearied  me.  Your  letters  are  no  tax  on  my  time, 
I  am  always  very  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and  the  more  freely 
you  write  to  me  the  more  you  please  me. 

"  I  have  scarcely  any  time  for  Milner.  Stock-taking  is 
too  near ;  I  seem  just  as  full  as  I  can  possibly  be.  I  have 
for  the  last  week  been  rising  at  five,  and  have  as  much  as  I 
can  do  until  ten  every  day.  My  health  and  spirits  are  good. 
My  wife  is  poorly,  but  improving  :  all  the  rest  well.  With 
kind  remembrances  to  your  family  circle,  I  am,  my  dear 
friend, 

"  Yours  affectionately, 
"  S.  B." 

Here  we  find  him  inciting  his  young  friend  to  persever- 
ance and  faith  as  a  teacher  : — 

"  Kingtrusood  Hill,  Dee.  24,  1844. 

"  MY  VERY  DEAR  FRIEND, — I  am  truly  thankful  that  God 
has  so  graciously  inclined  your  heart  to  seek  your  happiness 
where  alone  true  enjoyment  can  be  found,  and  that  He  has 
not  only  blessed  but  made  you  a  blessing. 

"  If  you  are  faithful,  He  will  give  you  grace  to  lose 
yourself  in  Him,  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  and  your  prayer* 
will  be  frequently  offered  and  graciously  answered. 


282  HAPPINESS  OF  A  FAITHFUL  TEACHER. 

'  Keep  me  dead  to  all  below, 
Only  Christ  resolved  to  know, 
Firm  and  disengaged  and  free, 
Seeking  all  my  bliss  in  Thee.' 

You  will  feel  so  impressed  with  the  value  of  souls  and  your 
responsibility  to  God,  that  you  will  never  rest  until  all  tho 
girls  in  your  class  are  brought  from  darkness  to  light.  I 
remember  hearing  of  a  young  person  who  had  thirteen  scho- 
lars, and  for  several  years  she  saw  but  little  fruit  of  her 
labour  until  she  was  almost  discouraged ;  but  instead  of 
giving  up,  she  began  to  wrestle  with  God  in  earnest,  perse- 
vering, faithful  prayer  ;  and  in  a  short  time  one  of  the  girls 
evinced  a  serious  concern  for  her  spiritual  welfare,  and  began 
to  inquire  with  deep  anxiety  what  she  must  do  to  be  saved. 
This  soon  spread  through  the  class,  and  in  a  few  months 
every  one  of  the  children  gave  satisfactory  evidence  that 
their  hearts  were  changed.  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  the 
effect  will  be  equally  encouraging  on  your  part  if  you  trust 
alone  in  the  mighty  God  who  has  said  (Mark  xi.  24), '  What- 
soever things,'  &c.  Let  this  encouraging  passage  have  its 
full  weight  on  your  mind,  and  make  all  the  use  of  it  you  be- 
lieve your  heavenly  Father  would  have  you." 

«  S.  B." 

How  many  busy  merchants,  with  such  an  establishment 
upon  their  hands,  and  with  such  indoor  and  outdoor  calls 
upon  their  time,  would  take  pains  thus  to  cherish  the  corres- 
pondence of  pious  youth,  partly  from  a  design  to  encourage 
them  in  religious  life,  partly  from  the  impulse  of  an  ardent 
friendship  ? 

His  letters  indicate  his  love  of  a  tour.  Wales,  Scotland, 
the  Lakes,  and  other  paths  of  beauty  were  selected  for  sum 
mcr  excursions  ;  and  there,  amid  the  works  of  the  heavenly 
Father,  his  heart  rekindled  all  its  best  emotions.  Nothing 


TOTJES   AND   PLEASURES.  283 

did  he  enjoy  more  than  a  drive  or  a  stroll  amid  beautiful 
scenery,  accompanied  by  members  of  his  family  or  a  friend 
or  two,  heightening  the  pleasure  by  poetry,  hymns,  or  ani- 
mated rehearsals  of  God's  wonderful  providence  in  his  own 
career.  The  flowers,  the  trees,  and  the  singing  birds  would 
all  set  his  thoughts  in  motion,  and  elicit  warm  bursts  of  plea- 
sure and  of  worship.  When  on  a  drive,  he  had  been  telling 
some  of  the  striking  passages  of  his  life  to  his  young  friend. 
She  said  laughingly  but  in  earnest,  "  Why,  Mr.  Budgett,  your 
life  ought  to  be  written  among  the  lives  of  wonderful  men," 
"  My  life  ! "  he  said,  "  it  is  no  more  worth  writing  than  the 
life  of  that  bird  in  the  bush."  Of  his  children  and  of  their 
friends  he  was  the  friend — one  might  almost  say  the  com- 
rade, and  in  his  open-heartedness  often  made  them  more 
intimate  with  his  grave  concerns  than  they  could  bring  them- 
selves to  make  him  with  their  lighter  ones.  Thus,  while  his 
influence  steadily  opposed  every  thing  that  was  evil,  no  cold- 
ness, no  sanctimonious  sharpness,  no  indifference  to  youthful 
zest  and  sensibility  ever  displayed  itself;  and  yet  under  all 
this  companionable  familiarity,  there  was  a  basis  of  unrelent- 
ing discipline  which  was  not  shown,  but  which,  if  infringed 
upon,  would  yield  to  no  pressure  or  appeal. 

In  the  management  of  his  servants,  as  in  that  of  his 
men,  he  delighted  to  reward  diligence.  When  any  special 
instruction  was  well  carried  out,  some  little  present  often 
followed ;  and  even  when  he  wished  to  correct  a  fault,  some- 
times he  managed  to  do  it  by  especial  commendation  of  a 
small  display  of  the  opposite  virtue,  or  by  some  trifling  gift. 
He  once  gave  his  cook  a  characteristic  reproof  on  the  sub- 
ject of  punctuality.  He  could  not  bear  to  lose  a  moment 
before  meals.  When  the  bell  for  breakfast  was  rung,  he  sat 
Btill  in  his  library  till  all  were  assembled  for  prayer,  then  a 
private  bell  summoned  him,  and  so  not  an  instant  was  lost 
It  proved  orf  one  occasion  that  for  two  or  three  days  in  sue- 


284:  LESSON   ON   PUNCTUALITY. 

cession  dinner  was  late ;  this,  of  course,  was  not  to  his  mind 
yet  he  sent  "  cook  "  no  message.  Some  friends  were  stay 
ing  in  the  house,  and  he  made  the  whole  party  agree  to  en- 
ter the  dining-room  precisely  at  the  hour,  and  take  their 
seats  at  table.  This  all  did,  and  much  to  their  amusement 
waited  for  a  considerable  time.  It  may  be  supposed  that 
the  tidings  soon  travelled  to  the  kitchen.  Not  certain,  how- 
ever, that  this  one  lesson  would  suffice,  he  issued  the  same 
order  for  the  following  day.  Again  the  cook  heard  of  the 
whole  company  being  seated  at  a  table  without  viands,  and 
you  may  suppose  that  such  a  sermon  on  punctuality  was  not 
delivered  in  vain. 

No  one  would  expect  ostentation  in  the  domestic  life  of 
Mr.  Budgett ;  while  plentifulness  was  everywhere,  plainness 
and  economy  were  its  meet  companions.  Fond  of  having 
numerous  visitors — sometimes  making  a  descent  on  a  group 
of  friends,  and  by  his  own  irresistible  determination  carry- 
ing them  off,  yea  or  nay,  to  Kingswood  Hill — he  yet  never 
desired  to  get  a  name  for  entertainments.  I  have  heard 
many  speak  of  heart  and  warmth,  of  domestic  order,  of  prayer 
and  praise,  of  active  piety,  and  endless  good-doing ;  but  in 
looking  back  upon  all  who  have  talked  about  that  home,  I 
do  not  remember  one  who  commemorated  the  champagne 
or  the  brilliant  soirfes.  He  was  far  more  at  home  in  giving 
the  Sunday  School  children  a  treat,  or  regaling  the  young 
women  with  tea  and  strawberries,  than  in  seeing  a  number 
of  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  lounge  and  prattle.  Many 
horses  as  he  gave  away,  he  never  drove  a  pair,  because  ho 
thought  it  would  be  too  much  display.  Much  as  he  loved 
beauty  and  rural  scenes,  he  did  not  buy  a  mansion  in  some 
of  the  enchanting  localities  within  a  drive  of  Bristol ;  but 
tried,  in  the  act  of  feeding  the  labourers  of  the  place,  to 
make  Kiugswood  beautiful  Temperance  in  all  things, 
without  extremes,  either  in  house,  dress,  or  board,  was  his 


PLAINNESS.  285 

taste  ;  and  temperance  in  all  these  he  impressed  on  his  do- 
mestic circle.  It  would  have  been  easy  for  him  to  have  had 
nothing  to  spare  when  the  poor  called  ;  but  he  chose  rather 
to  have  nothing  to  spare  when  extravagant  luxuries  called. 
His  style  was  far  below  that  assumed  by  many  merchants 
of  half  his  means,  yet  without  any  prim  fashion  of  pecu- 
liarity ;  and  his  accumulated  wealth  was  never  so  great  as 
his  largesses  would  lead  many  to  imagine. 

Among  the  mercantile  class,  luxury  is  a  devouring  evil ; 
it  swallows  down  the  virtues  wholesale.  For  their  means 
they  are  far  more  addicted  to  it  than  the  "  higher  classes ;" 
their  houses  are  enlarged  and  decorated  with  the  most  pre- 
tentious rivalry  one  of  the  other,  their  tables  testify  against 
all  moderation  (eschewing  of  course  drunkenness),  they  make 
haste  to  march  to  the  music  of  carriage  wheels,  to  feast  their 
eyes  on  plush  and  livery  buttons.  The  rage  to  make  vast 
fortunes  arises  as  much  from  the  rage  for  display  as  from 
the  cold  desire  to  accumulate ;  and  style  is  pushed  up  to 
such  a  height  that  soon  a  man  must  have  an  immense  reve- 
nue to  keep  pace  even  with  the  lower  circles  of  respectable 
life.  This  is  all  bad,  comes  of  badness,  and  leads  to  bad- 
ness. Yet,  alas,  the  men  we  call  by  emphasis  "  good "  do 
little  as  a  class  to  cure  it ;  the  religious  merchant  or  manu- 
facturer of  wealth  is  generally  a  very  splendid  gentleman. 
Even  men  whose  personal  carriage,  whose  heart,  life,  and 
likings  are  meek  and  lowly,  allow  their  establishments  to 
slide  up  into  the  splendours.  This  habit  is  enervating  our 
youths,  rendering  family  happiness  dependent  on  superflui- 
ties, straining  health  and  principles  in  a  race  for  dashing 
style,  setting  up  splendour  on  the  legitimate  throne  of  mod- 
eration, and  icing  over  domestic  piety  with  candied  incrus- 
tations. Unless  it  is  put  down,  where  are  we  to  look  for  a 
race  of  men  who  can  do  without  a  dinner  now  and  then  for 
a  work  of  charity,  or  spend  years  in  frugal  habitudes  and 


286  LUXUBY  OF  MIDDLE  CLASSES. 

benevolent  hardship  ?  The  homes  of  the  comfortable  classes 
are  mortally  unfavourable  to  the  formation  of  self-denying 
heroic  men.  Among  the  poor,  early  hardship  fits  for  subse- 
quent privation.  Among  the  older  families,  ancestral  tradi- 
tions, military  or  naval  associates,  early  familiarity  with 
historic  enterprise,  tend  to  make  a  youth  spurn  dependence 
on  the  indulgences  which  surround  him.  The  one  class 
gives  us  hardy  soldiers,  the  other  heroic  officers ;  but  the 
comfortable  class  have  neither  hardship  nor  family  tradition 
to  kindle  heroism  in  their  youth,  and  the  whole  course  of 
their  modern  progress  is  towards  a  generation  of  creatures 
dependent  upon  every  sort  of  luxury,  and  energetic  only  to 
win  the  gold  which  will  buy  it.  The  continuance  of  peace, 
removing  from  our  eyes  the  examples  of  self-devotion  which 
war,  detestable  as  it  is.  constantly  presents,  renders  it  all 
the  more  incumbent  on  us  to  protest  against  habits  which 
would  turn  this  hardy  northern  island  into  a  nursery  of  soft 
gentlemen  who  will  whine  and  mope  if  they  have  only  a 
warm  house,  with  a  fire,  a  loaf,  a  joint,  and  a  cup  of  tea. 

The  outcrying  extravagance  and  luxury  of  the  day  needs 
a  most  masterful  hand  laid  upon  it ;  statesmen  should  smite 
it,  authors  and  journalists  should  set  the  pen  upon  it,  pa- 
rents should  make  it  a  fireside  laughingstock,  religious  men 
should  walk  over  it,  and  preachers  should  burn  it  with  living 
coals  of  eloquence.  It  does  one's  heart  good  to  see  the 
"  Edinburgh  Review,"  in  an  article  replete  with  sense  and 
vigour,  pointing  to  a  reduction  of  the  prevalent  extrava- 
gance as  the  wise,  safe,  short  path  to  universal  plenty.  "  If," 
says  the  judicious  writer,  "  the  English  people  could  all  at 
once  be  induced  to  lay  aside  their  luxurious,  wasteful,  and 
showy  mode  of  life,  and  adopt  the  frugality  and  temperance 
of  the  Spaniards,  the  simple  habits  of  the  Tyrolese,  and  the 
unostentatious  hospitality  of  the  Syrians,  how  few  among  us 
would  not  find  a  superfluity  at  their  disposal  ?  We  rejoice  to 


A  WAY   TO   DO   GOOD.  287 

believe  that  this  more  rational  and  homely  spirit  is  spread- 
ing among  us,  especially  in  detached  localities,  and  we  do 
not  think  that  a  good  citizen  could  render  any  more  valu- 
able service  to  his  country  than  in  promoting  it  by  argu- 
ment and  example  wherever  his  influence  extends" 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE     INNER     LIFE. 

"  Truth  Is  not  local ;  God  alike  pervades 
And  fills  the  world  of  traffic  and  the  shades, 
And  may  be  feared  amid  the  busiest  scenes, 
Or  scorned  where  business  never  intervenes." 

COWPM. 

THERE  is  a  life  the  world  sees,  a  life  the  neighbourhood 
sees,  a  life  the  family  sees,  a  life  God  sees.  These  are 
often  strangely  inconsistent.  It  is  pitiable  when  each  suc- 
ceeding enclosure  you  pass  to  reach  the  man,  introduces 
you  to  diminishing  charms  and  growing  blemishes.  With 
Samuel  Budgett  it  was  not  so:  the  merchant  who  only 
knew  him  as  the  unparalleled  "  buyer,"  the  stranger  who  only 
heard  of  him  from  some  men  of  business  in  Bristol,  and  many 
who  saw  but  his  outermost  character,  had  no  remarkable  im- 
pression of  his  worth.  But  those  who  knew  his  works  in  his 
neighbourhood,  beheld  wondering  ;  those  who  knew  his  home 
had  a  profound  love  of  the  man ;  those  who  knew  his  closet 
and  his  heart  looked  upon  him  with  feelings  which  few  men 
raise  in  the  breasts  of  others. 

When  his  opening  mind  first  cried  for  food,  a  mother  was 
there  who  wisely  gave  it  the  knowledge  of  one  great,  holy 
God,  and  added  in  daily  teaching  the  knowledge  of  all  truths 
essential  to  the  soul.  Not  only  did  she  feed  his  mind  with 


EAELY   TRAINING.  289 

this  living  bread,  but  she  moved  its  powers  to  come  forth,  to 
stretch  upwards  and  meet  its  God ;  she  did  not  teach  the 
lips  alone  to  mutter  praying  words  where  meaning  was  not  j 
but  bending  over  the  earth-prone  infant  mind,  well  knowing 
that  it  could  rise,  yet  would  if  left  alone  grovel,  his  mother's 
soul,  stirring,  lifting  his  growing  soul,  urged  him  up  toward 
the  mercy-seat. 

This  was  the  first  influence  on  Samuel  Budgett's  inner 
life, — a  firm  conviction  of  Christian  truths,  a  bent  towards 
prayer.  Then  he  had  before  his  eyes  beings  whose  whole 
lives  were  adjusted  on  the  principle  that  they  were  travelling 
to  a  better  country.  The  songs  he  heard  in  his  father's 
house  were  the  songs  of  that  shining  land.  The  genius  of 
Charles  Wesley  was,  to  his  infancy,  a  lark  at  morn,  musically 
inviting  his  eye  toward  heaven  ;  a  nightingale  at  eventide, 
pouring  upon  the  shades  of  life  melody  from  the  invisible. 
The  necessities  he  heard  spoken  of  as  most  pressing,  were 
necessities  of  the  inner  man ;  the  treasure  he  heard  extolled 
as  the  one  pearl  of  price,  was  a  heart-held  gift  of  God.  He 
had  ever  something  to  remind  him  that  man  does  not  live  by 
bread  alone,  but  that  there  is  a  life  which  moulds  the  life  of 
sense  to  happiness  or  vanity. 

Then  came  the  notable  hour  when,  passing  his  mother's 
door,  he  heard  her  making  supplication  for  her  SamueL 
Now,  for  the  first  time,  his  soul  consciously  cried  out  within 
him,  as  a  living  thing  which  felt  itself  poor,  hungry,  and 
nigh  to  perishing, — another  voice  had,  this  time,  spoken 
through  his  mother's.  The  prodigal's  feeling  when  he  came 
to  himself  is  the  first  feeling  of  all  souls  when  they  first 
awake, — "  I  perish ;"  the  prodigal's  hope  is  the  hope  of  all 
souls  when  awake, — "  I  will  arise,  and  go  to  my  father." 
That  little  boy,  in  struggling  thoughts  and  prayers,  endea- 
voured to  find  God ;  the  efforts  of  his  mother  to  lift  his  soul 
up  had  not  been  vain, — now  that  it  was  awake,  it  knew  where 
13 


290  PIETY  IN  YOUTH. 

to  fly.  Then  came  the  happy  death  of  Betty  Coles,  and  the 
walking  in  the  fields  on  summer  evenings,  repeating  hymna 
on  death  and  heaven.  Then,  the  ride  by  Molls  Park,  when 
his  mother  lay,  as  he  feared,  dying ;  and  where  he  whose 
soul  had  first  been  urged  heavenward  on  the  wings  of  her 
soul,  now  rose  upon  his  own  wing,  bearing  her,  stricken 
as  she  was,  and  struggled  upward  with  his  burden,  till 
he  surmounted  the  clouds,  and  beheld  the  sun  so  clearly 
that  his  heart  sang.  Henceforward  he  felt  the  joy  of  the 
Divine  life.  Then  came  years  at  school,  and  early  trading, 
followed  by  years  of  apprenticeship,  throughout  all  which 
the  inner  life  appears  to  have  been  vigorous.  His  thirst 
for  the  means  of  grace  was  strong  and  steady ;  his  Bible 
was  beloved ;  his  Sabbath  was  a  day  of  eager  hearing,  eager 
reading,  eager  meditating,  and  eventually  a  day  of  ardent 
teaching  and  visiting ;  his  hymn-book  was  passing  almost 
entire  into  his  memory ;  and  his  path  of  filial  duty  was  trod- 
den with  self-forgetting  constancy.  Inside  all  this  was  a 
warm  delight  in  God — a  gratitude,  a  love,  a  filial  fear.  In 
spiritual  tranquillity,  in  calm,  steadfast  happiness  of  soul, 
these  early  years  excelled  the  years  that  followed  ;  they  were 
the  most  uniformly  bright  period  of  Mr.  Budgett's  inward 
life.  It  would  seem  that  throughout  those  days  of  hard 
circumstances,  he  had  faithfully  walked  with  God,  and  had 
enjoyed  abounding  consolation.  What  was  that,  then,  which, 
beginning  as  he  prayed  by  the  park  at  Wells,  gave  him  hap- 
piness and  virtue  throughout  all  boyhood  and  early  youth  ? 
Mark  the  two  things, — happiness  and  virtue,  the  two  best 
and  purest  blessings, — in  fact,  the  collective  expressions  of 
all  blessings  possible  ;  what  was  it  which  gave  him  a  happi- 
ness much  trouble  could  not  mar ;  a  virtue  youthful  tempta- 
tion could  not  shake  ?  It  was  the  Comforter — the  Spirit  of 
adoption,  which,  entering  the  heart  of  the  happy  men  who 
return  from  sin  to  Christ,  "  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit 


THE   SPIEIT   OF   ADOPTION.  291 

that  we  are  the  children  of  God."  Our  race  is  a  race  of 
prodigals,  far  wandered  from  the  Father's  house,  beside  them- 
selves, and  living  sinfully  ;  but  0,  many  have  come  to  them- 
selves, have  returned  to  the  Father,  and  have  been  received 
with  pardon,  with  tender  utterances,  and  wealthy  gifts.  But 
you  do  not  believe,  that  when  God  receives  back  the  prodi- 
gal son,  He  utters  any  word  of  welcome  which  will  assure 
and  rejoice  the  self-reproaching  heart ;  you  say  it  is  impos- 
sible that  the  soul  can  be  told,  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee." 
What  parent  in  the  universe  is  without  the  power  of  giving 
recovered  offspring  a  glad  welcome?  Even  the  hen  can 
thrill  her  lost,  when  found,  with  notes  of  delight ;  and  is  the 
only  parent  who  cannot  tell  his  love  and  his  joy  into  the 
breast  of  his  "  lost  one,  who  is  found  again,"  the  Father  of 
all  souls,  the  source  of  all  light  and  speech  ?  Nay,  nay ;  God 
has  a  way  into  the  soul  of  man  as  well  as  you,  as  direct  at 
least,  and  as  effectual.  God  has  a  voice  as  well  as  you,  and 
spirit  can  speak  to  spirit,  as  well  as  lips  of  earth — speak 
condemnation,  warning,  or  approval.  When  He  adopts  a 
man,  forgiving  him  the  sins  that  are  past,  He  has  a  wondrous 
thing  to  tell  him,  which  no  earthly  eye  has  seen,  no  ear  has 
heard,  and  therefore  no  tongue  can  tell ;  and  that  it  may  be 
told — clearly  told,  He  sends  forth  the  Spirit  of  His  Son 
into  the  man's  heart,  crying,  Abba,  Father.  It  is  told  :  the 
soul  knows  that  it  has  passed  from  death  to  life,  knows  itr 
adoption,  knows  the  thing  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  or  ear 
heard,  but  which  God  has  revealed  unto  it  by  His  Spirit 
knows  itself  a  child ;  and  if  a  child,  then  an  heir : — this  is  the 
consolation.  With  this  consolation  comes  a  love,  which  ren- 
ders obedience  pleasing  and  disobedience  hateful.  It  is  not 
by  convincing  the  judgment  that  cheerfulness  is  better  than 
repining,  virtue  better  than  sin.  that  God  makes  men  really 
happy  and  really  virtuous ;  but  by  moving  the  affections  aa 


292  DARKNESS. 

a  Father,  and  winning  our  love  by  displaying  His  love  to  the 
eye-sight  of  the  soul. 

But  his  letters  written  in  the  years  succeeding  the  expi- 
ration of  his  apprenticeship,  and  the  detached  notes  still 
left  to  us,  indicate  clearly  a  state  of  soul  in  which  the  same 
calm  faith  no  longer  reigns.  There  is  not  only  self-abase- 
ment, but  disquiet — a  soul  not  happy,  not  feeling  the  joy  of 
pardon,  not  trustingly  staid  upon  the  cross.  He  is  plainly 
conscious  of  great  unfaithfulness ;  not  an  unfaithfulness 
which  has  laid  him  Low  in  humiliation  only,  but  which  has 
robbed  him  of  his  peace  ;  not  an  unfaithfulness  which  has 
driven  him  to  the  great  Mediator  with  a  more  piercing  sense 
of  his  innate  sin,  and  a  more  fixed  hold  of  Christ's  infinite 
merit,  but  which  has  withered  his  hand  that  he  cannot  lay 
hold  on  the  hope  set  before  him  in  the  gospel.  These  were 
cloudy  days ;  but  whence  the  cloud  came  I  have  not  the 
means  of  saying. 

But  he  was  not  the  man  to  coin  a  spurious  comfort,  when 
the  genuine'  impress  of  God's  approval  was  withdrawn — to 
burnish  a  base  metal  till  it  would  glitter  as  if  gold ;  he  was 
rather  one  to  test  the  true  with  aqua-fortis  scrutiny,  till  un- 
der the  test  its  brightness  was  hidden  though  its  substance 
was  unhurt.  Such  was  his  habit  constantly ;  and  of  that 
self-distrusting,  self-depreciating  habit,  full  account  must  be 
taken  in  estimating  his  spiritual  state.  Yet  with  this  in 
view,  it  is  evident  that  the  want  of  peace  which  marked  his 
earlier  years  of  manhood,  contrasting  with  the  habitual 
brightness  of  youth,  is  not  assignable  purely  to  such  a  cause, 
but  began  with  unwatchfulness,  and  some  clear,  specific  trans- 
gression. Some  religious  men  are  always  joyful,  though  nev- 
er watchful ;  their  joy  is  not  worth  a  butterfly. 

His  copious  journals  are  gone,  burnt  up  by  his  own  hand  ; 
and  we  arc  not  disposed  to  blame  any  man  for  that.  Now, 
a  few  stray  fragments  of  notes,  scattered,  unfinished,  abrupt, 


HIS   OWtf   NOTES.  293 

disconnected — merely  the  faint  trace  of  an  occasional  foot- 
mark— is  all  that  has  survived.  One  note  is  dated  January 
1,  1822,  shortly  after  his  entrance  on  partnership  and  his 
marriage,  when  all  outward  things  were  joyous.  Yet  he 
thus  writes : — 

"  Tuesday  evening,  January  1 ,  1 822. — My  soul  is  great- 
ly oppressed  because  of  sin.  I  shall  never  be  happy  till  I 
find  a  Saviour  from  the  love,  the  power,  the  guilt,  and  the 
sad  effects  of  sin  as  it  respects  future  punishment.  I  believe 
such  a  Saviour  is  provided,  but  He  is  not  my  Saviour — I  do 
not  know  Him ;  He  has  not  saved  me  from  my  sins ;  but  I 
am  resolved  to  try  if  I  cannot  find  Him,  so  then  I  will  seek 
Him.  first  and  oftenest,  and  with  the  most  diligence,  for  I  am 
in  danger  till  I  do  find  Him.  Oh,  when  shall  I  find  Him  ! 
how  long  shall  I  seek  Him  !  Lord,  grant  that  I  may  never 
rest  till  I  feel  He  is  formed  in  my  heart  the  hope  of  eternal 
glory.  AMEN." 

At  the  close  of  the  week  he  adds : — 

"  Sunday,  middle  day,  January  6,  1822. — The  last  week 
has  been  a  very  unprofitable  one.  I  see  great  propriety  in 
what  Thomas-a-Kempis  says, '  the  beginning  of  temptation  is 
inconstancy  of  mind,  and  little  faith.' 

"  I  have  been  suffering  all  the  last  week  from  want  of 
resisting  temptation  in  the  beginning :  I  am  now  very  low. 
But  I  will  arise  again.  I  have  before  me  '  Hervey's  Medi- 
tations,' '  Baxter's  Saint's  Rest,'  and  the  Sacred  Volume.  I 
have  just  taken  a  slight  view  of  the  loss  I  sustained  by  spend- 
ing my  time  as  I  have  done  in  the  past  week.  As  this  is 
the  first  Sabbath  in  the  year,  may  I  now  begin  to  redeem 
time — to  form  an  acquaintance  with  my  Bible,  &c.,&c.  Oh, 
what  pleasures,  what  privileges,  depend  on  the  improvement 
of  precious  time  !  May  I — yea,  I  feel  resolved  to — give  no 
moment  but  in  purchase  of  its  worth.  May  the  Lord  giro 
me  strength,  and  teach  me  what  its  worth  is." 


294:  SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  month  he  makes  this  note  :— 

"Thursday  evening,  January  24,  1822. — I  this  morning 
returned  from  Midsomer  Norton.  In  my  way  I  indulged  a 
few  reflections,  and  endeavoured  to  form  a  few  resolutions : — 

"  1st,  I  am  a  guilty,  and  consequently  an  unhappy  crea- 
ture. 

"2d,  The  darkness  of  my  mind  prevents  my  seeing  its 
awful  state. 

••  3d,  As  my  mind  is  darkened  by  sin  I  cannot  see  what  is 
my  duty,  or  what  are  my  privileges. 

"  4th,  I  have  not  power  to  perform  even  what  I  know  to 
be  my  duty. 

"  5th,  The  longer  I  continue  in  this  state  the  worse  I  shall 
be,  till  my  eternal  ruin  be  accomplished. 

'•Resolved — 

"  1st,  To  seek  a  deeper  sense  and  clearer  discovery  of  my 
awful  state  through  sin. 

"2nd,  To  seek  to  get  a  satisfactory  evidence  that  I  am 
accepted  through  Christ. 

"  3rd,  To  make  the  service  of  God,  and  obedience  to  the 
dictates  of  his  Spirit,  the  supreme  object  of  my  life. 

"  4th,  To  begin  to  redeem  time,  and  to  be  more  moderate 
in  my  eating,  drinking  and  sleeping,  and  to  endeavour  to 
make  one  word  pass  for  two,  in  order  that  my  soul  may  grow 
in  grace  and  be  happy  ;  and  all  this  would  I  do  in  humble 
dependence  on  the  continual  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"And  5th,  To  read  every  day  a  chapter  or  two  of  Scrip- 
ture according  to  the  resolution  made  January  1st,  1822." 

The  first  sign  of  recovered  joy  comes  nearly  two  years 
subsequent  to  the  date  of  the  above  notes ;  when  looking 
back  on  the  Christmas  week  he  says,  "  I  am  pleased  on  re- 
viewing it  as  one  of  the  most  profitable  weeks  spent  on  this 
earth." 

Everything  we  can  gather  betokens  an  earnest  struggle 


SELF-CONDEMNATION.  295 

after  a  life  disciplined  to  obey  accurately  strict  intentions  as 
to  inward  motive  and  outward  action.  His  views  of  a  call 
to  be  a  child  of  light  were  very  clear ;  and  setting  that 
beauty  of  holiness  whereto  he  felt  called  beside  the  poor  at- 
tainments which  alone  he  would  recognise  in  his  character,  his 
heart  sank  abashed.  With  lower  views  of  the  Christian  call- 
ing he  would  have  beheld  his  own  life  without  strong  con- 
demnation ;  but,  in  that  case,  the  evils  he  now  deplored 
would  have  grown,  the  graces  he  longed  for  would  have  been 
neglected,  and  his  character  would  have  gradually  deteriorat- 
ed till  he  was  either  a  hollow  professor  of  religion,  or  a  full- 
blown man  of  the  world.  Prosperity  was  setting  in  strongly ; 
his  natural  disposition  urged  him  to  absorbing  efforts  in  trade, 
and  here  was  his  danger.  In  the  heat  of  driving  his  plans, 
he  was  constantly  liable  to  be  overcome ;  and  doubtless  many 
of  his  self-reproaches  were  founded  on  real  short-comings. 
He  had  not  grace  sufficient  to  be  "  more  than  conqueror ;" 
he  was  often  vanquished  by  the  impulses  of  nature,  aided  by 
abetting  circumstances  ;  but  he  had  grace  sufficient  for  this 
— that  he  would  not  overlook,  would  not  excuse  his  fault, 
would  search  it  out,  confess  it  to  God,  ay,  and  confess  it  to 
man,  abhor  himself  on  account  thereof,  and  go  in  penitent 
supplication  to  a  Father  for  pardon.  The  highest  effect  of 
grace  undoubtedly  is  to  keep  us  unspotted ;  but  the  next  is 
to  lead  us  to  quick,  deep  repentance  when  we  have  contracted 
a  stain.  About  his  notes  there  is  more  self-examination  and 
self-discipline,  than  self-forgetting  regard  of  Christ  and  of 
God.  One  clear  sight  of  Christ's  redeeming  glory,  does  more 
to  disengage  our  feelings  from  entanglement,  and  to  attract 
them  to  Him,  than  ten  thousand  dissatisfied  verdicts  upon 
their  actual  condition.  Self-condemnation  is  just;  it  is  in- 
valuable so  far  as  it  undoes  all  self-trust  and  self-glorying : 
but  if  it  fixes  the  eye  upon  self  so  much  as  to  hinder  the 
occupation  of  the  thoughts  by  Him  that  is  greater  than  we, 


296  HEAET-SEAECnmO. 

it  then  becomes  another  form  of  self-importance,  another  feint 
of  self-righteousness.  And  you  will  never  destroy  self  by 
scolding  it — so  long  as  you  are  chiefly  occupied  about  it, 
however  occupied,  it  will  survive ;  it  dies  only  when  the  soul, 
viewing  the  wondrous  God  become  a  father,  a  friend,  and  a 
bosom  helper,  is  absorbed  in  the  Saviour  it  has  found — lov- 
ing, rejoicing,  beholding,  and  imitating,  till  the  old  man  dis- 
appears— the  whole  character  putting  on  the  attributes  we 
adore.  But  better  far  be  ever  scrutinising  and  ever  self- 
condemning,  than  make  the  rich  mercies  of  the  Godhead  a 
reason  for  permitting  an  ill-ordered  heart,  and  a  vacillating 
holiness. 

O  !  ye  men  of  business,  how  many  of  you  practise  Mr. 
Budgett's  habit  of  self-examination  '  You  go  through  a 
thousand  transactions  in  a  week  ;  do  you  sift  your  heart  at 
the  end  ?  You  store  up  your  gold ;  do  you  test  it  lest  a 
plague  should  be  in  it?  You  "  have  no  time."  Madness  and 
blasphemy  ! — no  time  to  look  to  your  salvation,  and  to  see 
whether  you  are  serving  God !  Mr.  Budgett  had  quite  as 
much  on  hand  as  you.  Here  is  a  set  of  entries  in  pencil 
which  affectingly  testifies  that  the  rising  merchant  knew  he 
had  a  Judge  above,  and  keenly  searched  his  thoughts,  words, 
deeds,  for  offences  against  His  law : — 

"  Sunday  evening,  August  3,  1823 : — 

"  1.  I  am  conscious  I  have  thought  of  myself  more  highly 
than  I  ought  to  think. 

"  2.  I  have  sacrificed  to  my  own  net  and  burnt  incense 
to  my  own  drag. 

"  3.  I  have  ascribed  my  success  in  my  -undertakings  to 
my  own  wisdom. 

"  4.  I  have  boasted  of  what  I  have  received  as  if  I  had 
not  received  it. 

"  5.  I  have  gloried  in  very  many  things  save  the  cross  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


CONFESSION  AND  PBATEE.  297 

"  6.  I  have  desired  the  praise  of  men  and  taken  pleasure 
in  it. 

"  7.  I  have  repeatedly  given  way  to  foolish  desires. 

"  8.  I  have  often  and  repeatedly  given  way  to  inordinate 
affection. 

"  9.  I  have  indulged  spiritual  and  bodily  sloth. 

"  10.  I  have  often  allowed  myself  to  speak,  if  not  lies, 
yet  what  was  not  in  the  strict  sense  truth  in  the  love  thereof. 

"11.  I  have  practised  in  my  dealings  arts  which  would 
not  bea'r  strict  scrutiny. 

u  12.  I  have  not  laboured  to  do  whatsoever  I  did  to  the 
glory  of  God". 

"13.  I  have  indulged  my  bodily  appetites." 

Mr.  Carvosso  strongly  describes  his  confessions  of  un- 
faithfulness— not  the  cold,  mechanical  indication  of  avowals 
the  heart  ought  to  make  but  does  not,  but  piercing  utter- 
ances of  heart-pain.  Openly  in  the  class-meeting  or  love 
feast,  with  many  of  his  own  men  present,  he  would  speak 
with  flowing  tears,  as  if  his  soul  within  him  worshipped  and 
fell  down  and  kneeled,  yea,  lay  prostrate  with  awe  and  con- 
trition in  the  presence  of  the  infinite  love  and  holiness, 
while  he  abhorred  his  own  short-comings.  At  the  prayer- 
meeting  too,  he  loved  to  fill  his  place,  and  far  was  fie  from 
carrying  before  the  mercy-seat  the  familiar  tones,  and  the 
manner  habitual  to  business  scenes  :  no,  he  was  not  before 
men  now ;  and  in  that  glorious  presence  where  he  knelt,  all 
his  business  bearing  departed,  his  thoughts  sought  a  depth 
below  the  dust  wherein  to  bow,  his  tones  thrilled  with  hu- 
miliation, and  his  tears  ran  plentifully.  He  cannot  be  set 
before  mature  Christians  as  an  example  of  constantly  bright, 
placid  faith,  "  always  confident,  and  willing  rather  to  be  ab- 
sent from  the  body  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord  ;  but 
the  man  of  business,  struggling  with  the  temptations  of  trade 
and  impelled  by  a  nature  eager  for  commercial  progress, 
13* 


298  A  TIME  OF  STRENGTH. 

may  profitably  fix  his  eye  upon  him  and  see  one  situated  like 
himself,  scrutinizing  his  transactions  as  before  the  Judge, 
and  when  he  finds  his  heart  too  much  engrossed  with  earth- 
ly things,  making  haste  to  seek  renewed  grace  with  prayer 
and  tears.  And  this,  remember,  not  when  all  the  fruits  you 
could  trace  of  his  religion  were  to  be  found  in  his  attendance 
at  class,  at  prayer-meeting,  at  public  worship,  and  the  Lord's 
holy  table,  with  the  home  solemnity  of  family  prayer  ;  but 
when  his  services  to  God  and  man  were  astonishing  those 
who  were  familiar  with  common-place  piety. 

But  though  his  prevalent  tone  was  depressed,  he  did  ever 
and  anon  taste  his  Father's  love  till  his  whole  soul  bounded 
with  joyous  energies.  When  so  refreshed  he  did  not  allow 
his  comforts  to  expend  themselves  in  emotion,  but  used  them 
as  strength  for  works  of  special  difficulty.  On  one  occasion 
he  visited  his  friend  Mr.  Wood,  at  Truro,  and  then  his  soul 
was  bewailing  its  unfaithfulness  in  much  depression.  The 
night  before  parting,  the  two  friends  were  long  engaged  in 
prayer  ;  the  cloud  broke  away  from  Mr.  Budgctt's  soul,  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  entered  into  his  heart.  While 
waiting  the  next  day  at  Hayle  for  the  Bristol  steamer,  his 
eye  was  attracted  by  a  house  in  which  he  detected  signs  of 
suspicious  though  numerous  company.  On  inquiry  he  found 
it  was  the  dwelling  of  an  unhappy  man  who  once  had  seemed 
to  "  run  well,"  but  had  sorely  fallen,  and  that  a  loose  party 
were  meeting  for  dancing  and  debauch.  He  at  once  made 
for  the  house  ;  would  see  the  master ;  kindly,  but  firmly 
talked  with  him  till,  wicked  as  he  was,  he  consented  to  let 
his  strange,  gentle,  but  resistless  visitor  go  up  stairs.  As 
they  ascended  abundant  tokens  of  wrath  were  uttered,  for 
the  conversation  had  been  overheard  :  a  candlestick  was 
flung  at  Mr.  Budgett's  head.  The  man  begged  him  to  come 
back  and  himself  shrank  away  ;  but  no,  he  would  warn  these 
poor  revellers.  In  he  went,  begged  them  not  to  be  disturbed. 


JL  DEATH   ON   A  STEAMER. 

X 

just  to  go  on  as  if  he  were  not  there,  said  they  were  trying 
to  enjoy  themselves,  and  that  was  what  he  always  wished  to 
do,  and  so  spoke  familiarly  and  kindly,  till  he  had~their  at- 
tention. Then  he  began  to  reason  with  them  "  on  righteous- 
ness, temperance,  and  judgment  to  come  :"  one  by  one  their 
air  and  words  of  scoffing  fell,  some  were  soon  in  tears,  tho 
fiddle  ceased  to  play,  and  ere  he  left  he  had  led  that  wild 
company  to  bow  before  the  great  God  in  prayer,  while  tears, 
and  sobs,  and  signs  of  shame  told  that  the  heart  within  was 
melted.  The  dance  was  ended  for  that  night. 

On  the  steamer  he  found  a  gentleman  who  seemed  ill  and 
lonely  :  he  addressed  him  with  that  kind  perseverance  where- 
by, in  a  way  peculiar  to  himself,  he  would  enter  into  any 
mind  he  wished  to  enter  ;  and  finding  him  averse  to  all  re- 
ligious things,  he  spoke  to  him  in  solemn  warning,  blended 
with  the  glorious  invitations  of  the  Gospel.  The  stranger 
was  not  easily  won — they  parted  ;  but  during  the  night  Mr. 
Budgett  was  called  to  the  other's  couch  :  he  was  ill ;  he  was 
dying ;  and  he  touchingly  owned  the  kindness  of  his  new 
friend,  opened  his  heart,  told  him  his  tale — a  dark  and  sad 
one, — told  him  his  name,  which  he  had  not  borne  in  travelling, 
committed  his  watch  and  other  commissions  to  his  hand,  and 
died. 

It  is  often  said  that  to  know  a  person  you  must  see  him 
at  home.  There  is  truth  in  that ;  but  it  may  also  be  said 
that  to  know  a  person  you  must  see  him  on  a  journey.  Many 
who  are  strict  and  exemplary  at  home,  put  on  a  loose  re- 
ligious dress  when  they  travel.*  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  think 

*  I,  at  one  time,  thought  of  devoting  a  chapter  to  Mr.  Budgett  "  on 
the  road" — referring  especially  to  commercial  travelling  with  its 
temptations ;  but  my  materials  were  not  sufficient  to  compensate  for 
the  lack  of  practical  knowledge:  perhaps  it  may  be  touched  at  som« 
other  time. 


300  ON  THE  BOAD. 

it  desirable  "  just  once  in  a  way,"  to  visit  the  opera  when  he 
came  to  town  ;  or  to  take  his  children  to  a  theatre  that  they 
might  '•  just  see  and  judge  for  themselves."  He  did  not, 
when  at  a  strange  hotel,  where  "  no  one  knew  him  and  the 
example  would  do  no  harm,"  stroll  into  the  billiard  room 
and  try  a  game  "  merely  for  exercise."  He  did  not,  at  a 
watering  place,  look  round  for  the  fashionable  congregation, 
ajid  shun  his  own  people  if  they  were  poor  and  few.  He 
did  not  say  he  was  "  come  out  to  enjoy  himself,"  and  there- 
fore would  take  no  pains  to  do  good.  The  religion  he  va- 
lued at  home,  he  valued  on  the  road  ;  as  in  Kingswood,  so 
in  Wales,  Cornwall,  or  elsewhere  he  was  ever  on  the  watch 
for  objects  of  charity,  for  occasions  to  say  a  word  to  men 
about  the  Redeemer  he  loved.  He  always  carried  a  plenti- 
ful store  of  books  and  tracts  which'  he  distributed.  If  ho 
knew  of  a  prayer-meeting  or  week-evening  preaching  in  a 
town  where  he  chanced  to  be,  he  would  haste  away,  and  if 
called  upon  would  himself  preach,  though  from  that  effort 
his  sinking  heart  always  inclined  to  retire.  A  close  com- 
panion in  journeys  and  at  home  has  told  me  pleasing  tales  of 
his  wayside  good-doing. 

We  have  already  seen  what  impression  was  made  upon  a 
Christian  friend  by  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Budgett  bowed 
to  the  dispensation  which  called  away  his  lovely  son  Edwin, 
In  the  following  note  to  his  sister  in-law  we  see  proof  of  th« 
justice  of  that  impression : — 

Jttngswood  Hill,  July  27 th,  1849. 

"  MY  DEAE  SISTER  P , — Fearing  that  William's  not« 

to  brother  William,  of  yesterday,  might  have  alarmed  you,  I 
write  a  few  lines  just  to  say  we  are  all  well  and  happy  in 
God.  Our  dear  Edwin  was  prepared,  and  is  now 

•  Far  from  a  world  of  grief  and  sin, 
With  God  eternally  shut  in.' 


LETTER   WRITTEN   IN    AFFLICTION.     -  301 

We  are  yet,  though  suffering  under  a  most  painful  bereave* 
ment,  a  happy  family :  yes,  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all 
human  understanding,  does  keep  our  hearts  and  minds 
through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  would  be  impossible  for 
us  to  tell  you  how  precious  Christ  is  to  us  in  this  time  of 
severe  trial.  We  have  this  morning  enjoyed  a  gracious  visi- 
tation from  our  heavenly  Father  while  we  all,  the  whole 
family,  knelt  and  prayed  that  this  stroke  might  be  fully 

sanctified.     I  am,  my  dear  sister  P , 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

«  S.  B." 

Every  season  of  affliction,  personal  or  domestic,  was  to 
him  a  call,  as  if  from  the  trump  of  God,  to  humble  himself. 
He  looked  at  the  full  salvation,  the  perfect  love  and  perfect 
peace  whereto  the  Gospel  call  invited  him  ;  with  this  he 
compared  his  actual  graces,  and  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  he 
had  paid  too  much  attention  to  earthly  things,  foregoing 
divine  joys  for  worldly  good.  His  soul  shook  and  mourned 
exceedingly,  not  from  fears  of  future  wrath,  but  from  a  dis- 
tressing sight  of  his  unfaithful  service  to  the  all-blessed  Re- 
deemer. The  following  letter,  written  during  an  illness, 
displays  minutely  the  workings  of  his  heart  at  such  a  time  : — 

Kingswood  Hill,  2fm.  23,  1843. 

"My  DEAR  BROTHER  JAMES, — I  forced  my  heavenly 
Father  to  use  the  rod,  but  I  am  astonished  to  think  with 
what  gentleness  He  has  corrected  me.  The  first  Sunday  I 
was  unwell,  I  made  a  fresh  act  of  faith,  and  ventured  my 
whole  soul  on  the  atonement.  My  heart  seemed  to  have 
been  broken  in  a  thousand  pieces,  and  I  felt  disposed  to 
weep  my  life  away,  for  having  grieved  my  God.  For  the 
first  week  I  held  fast  my  confidence  and  felt  calm  as  in  the 
hands  of  my  loving  Saviour,  but  on  the  second  Sabbath  I 


302  LETTER   WRITTEN   IN   AFFLICTIOir. 

grew  much  worse,  BO  that  I  had  but  very  little  hope  of  re- 
covery. I  began  to  reason  with  the  enemy,  and  let  go  my 
shield  of  faith ;  and  then  was  truly  the  hour  and  power  of 
darkness.  I  can  never  describe  the  bitter  anguish  I  felt  on 
reviewing  my  past  life,  and  such  horror  and  gloom  came  over 
my  mind  at  the  thoughts  of  being  but  just  saved  as  by  the 
skin  of  my  teeth,  or  of  appearing  before  my  Maker  as  an 
unprofitable  servant,  or  perhaps  of  being  a  wandering  spirit 
cast  out  from  God  for  unfaithfulness  to  roam  in  endless 
circles  of  despair,  as  well-nigh  turned  my  brain.  My  agony 
of  mind  was  such  that  I  thought  I  was  dying,  and  really 
fainted  away.  I  then  recovered,  and  tried  to  recover  my 
shield  of  faith ;  but  on  Monday  morning,  Satan  was  again 
permitted  to  buffet  me,  and  the  conflict  was  extreme.  My 
dear  sister  Elizabeth  then  came  to  my  assistance,  and  saia 
I  was  doing  very  wrong — that  I  ought  to  come  to  the 
Saviour  as  at  first  I  came,  and  that  she  believed  I  should 
recover,  but  that  if  I  died  I  was  safe  for  heaven.  I  imme- 
diately took  courage  and  said, '  Lord,  I  did  believe  and  was 
happy,  and  thou  hast  said,  "  Whosoever  cometh,  &c.,  &c.,"  I 
come,  I  believe — I  will,  I  do  believe,  &c.'  My  heart  seemed 
melted  to  tenderness,  and  the  name  of  Jesus  was  exceedingly 
precious.  Sister  Elizabeth  then  said, '  Cannot  you  now  put 
in  your  claim  for  the  blessing  of  full  salvation  ?  Remember 
the  promise,  "  I  will  circumcise  thy  heart,  &c.,  &c." '  I 
said,  •  I  am  suffering  all  this  because  I  would  not  take  the 
necessary  pains  to  obtain  that  blessing  when  that  very 
promise  was  so  often  and  powerfully  impressed  on  my  mind  ; 
and  as  it  was  so  clearly  my  duty  to  obtain,  to  enjoy,  and  to 
preach  that  great  and  glorious  Gospel  privilege  to  others,  I 
could  not  hold  fast  even  a  sense  of  my  acceptance  with  God, 
or  overcome  various  temptations  to  sin, — and  it  is  of  the 
Lord's  mercies  that  I  am  not  consumed  :'  but  when  sister 
Elizabeth  said, '  Put  in  your  claim  just  now,'  I  made  a  vio- 


LETTER  WRITTEN   IN   AFFLICTIOU.  303 

lent  effort  and  said, '  Lord,  thou  hast  said,  "  I  will  circum- 
cise, &c.,  &c. :'  now  fulfil  thine  own  word.  I  hang  upon  thy 
word ;  thou  wilt  do  it.  I  dare  believe.'  I  did  not  struggle 
long  before  my  heart  seemed  deeply  humbled,  filled  with  love 
unutterable  to  God  and  all  mankind.  I,  however,  could  not 
entertain  an  idea  that  God  could  spare  my  life  ;  and  though 
I  felt  safe  and  happy,  I  could  not  feel  willing  to  die  even  to 
go  to  heaven  with  such  a  consciousness  of  unfaithfulness  up 
to  the  eleventh  hour,  and  earnestly  prayed, '  O  spare  me  a 
little,  that  I  may  recover  my  strength  before  I  go  hence  to 
be  no  more  seen.'  On  the  following  morning  my  dear  wife 
came  into  my  room  with  the  Bible  in  her  hand,  saying, ' I 
have  just  opened  upon  this  passage.'  See  Isaiah  xlviii.  9, 10. 
Never  did  Scripture  so  powerfully  impress  my  mind.  I 
said, '  It  is  the  word  of  God  to  me,  in  answer  to  his  servant's 
prayers :  I  shall  not  die  but  live.'  From  that  time  I  never 
entertained  a  doubt  but  I  should  have  another  opportunity 
of  preaching  salvation — full  salvation  by  Christ  Jesus  to 
every  one  who  will  put  in  their  claim  for  it.  My  mind  has 
since  been  kept  in  perfect  peace,  and  I  have  been  gradually 
recovering.  Now,  my  dear  brother  James,  my  object  in 
being  thus  minute  in  the  description  is,  first,  to  lead  you,  as 
you  would  avoid  the  gloom,  the  horror,  the  anguish,  such  as 
no  tongue  can  tell,  of  an  unsatisfactory  state  of  mind  on  a 
dying  bed,  or  the  more  tremendous  consequences  of  being 
hurried  out  of  time  into  eternity ;  as  you  would  enjoy  this 
life  tenfold  more  than  you  possibly  could  without  it ;  as  you 
would  be  unspeakably  happy,  safe,  useful,  and  rising  daily  in 
refinement  and  elevation  of  character  ;  and  as  you  would 
have  a  glorious  entrance  administered  to  you  among  the 
saints  in  light ;  in  a  word,  that  as  you  would  escape  hell  and 
gain  heaven  securely,  you  at  once  give  the  Lord  your  w/tole 
heart,  and  accept  his  full  salvation  :  this,  my  dear  brother, 


304:  DATS  m  TIIE  LIBRARY. 

is  much  easier  than  doing  it  by  halves.     I  am,  my  dear 
brother, 

"  Most  affectionately  yours, 

"  S  B." 

From  all  this  it  is  manifest,  that  while  Mr.  Budgett's  piety 
was  not  uniform  in  consolation,  it  was  habitual  in  intensity. 
For  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  he  withdrew  to  a  great  ex- 
tent from  active  business  engagements;  and  then  in  the 
library  he  diligently  improved  his  leisure  by  studies  all  tend- 
ing to  ripen  his  knowledge  of  God's  holy  Word.  He  read, 
he  corresponded,  he  prayed — passing  happy  days  of  quiet 
self-culture,  varied  by  active  usefulness  out  of  doors.  Method- 
ical in  everything,  he  was  methodical  in  his  closet ;  and  the 
following  table  will  indicate  how  he  daily  mapped  out  his  hours. 
Some  of  the  scraps  of  paper  under  my  hand  are  evidently 
notes  of  duties  to  be  got  through  in  a  certain  day  ;  and  as 
he  thus  arranged  beforehand  what  he  meant  to  accomplish 
BO  in  these  time  tables  we  see  him  taking  note  of  what  he 
had  actually  done.  We  give  one  page,  the  first  of  a  year, 
containing  the  record  of  a  fortnight.  You  will  be  able  to 
trace  in  the  abbreviations,  Cock  Road,  the  Catechumen 
Class,  and  other  favourite  duties;  the  last  abridgment  I 
cannot  explain. 


TIME   TABLE. 


305 


1849. 

S 

d 
1  1 

C  •= 

1 

1 

H 

1 

~  'c 

it 
Lj 

H 

Memorandum,  &c^  Ac. 

* 

'J- 

S* 

a 

5 

c« 

i 

IS 

t/. 

\ 

!2 

\,,\ 

r<* 

i. 

i. 

Sunday  .... 

T 

1 

i 

T 

5 

in 

M 

119 

156 

4 

j  Chapel,  Covenant,  8a- 
1  crament  and  home. 

Monday  

s 

•2 

2 

s 

G 

11 

13" 

166 

9 

Home  all  day. 

Tuesday.... 

1 

1 

g 

7 

U 

1R5 

4 

Bristol,  homo  &  Tg.Men. 

Wednesday. 

10 

4 

10 

S 

18 

2 

To  Mid.  Norton. 

Thursday  .  . 

11 

5 

11 

9 

14 

4 

Home  from  Norton. 

Friday  

If 

^ 

12 

10 

15 

134 

B 

Bristol  and  home. 

Saturday... 

11 

T 

13 

11 

1C 

.. 

5 

Bristol  and  home. 

83 

Sunday  .... 

14 

6 

14 

12 

17 

1 

j  Home,C.Rd.,CatnClass 
)  and  Chapel,  Mr.  Carr. 

Monday.... 

15 

9 

15 

1$ 

18 

N 

184 

190 

4 

Bristol  and  home. 

Tuesday.  .  .  . 

10 

u 

1C 

14 

19 

l-i: 

4 

Bristol  &  home  &  Tg. 
Men's  Association. 

Wednesday. 

17 

11 

17 

10 

M 

1 

Bristol  (Oldland  Hall) 

Thursday  .  . 

IS 

11 

IS 

1C 

•21 

2 

Ditto  &  Chanel  &  Two 
Committee  Meetings. 

Friday  

10 

u 

1U 

j- 

00 

'M 

6 

Home. 

Saturday  .  .  . 

"0 

u 

"II 

IS 

0.5 

OS 

8 

Home  all  day.    Mxs. 

26 

That  grace  which  most  steadily  manifested  itself  in  him 
was  love ;  his  heart,  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  God's  bounty 
in  providence,  of  his  mercy  in  redemption,  was  ever  open, 
ever  warm,  ever  tender,  and  claimed  kindred  with  all  hearts. 
Hence  his  delight  in  promoting  the  happiness  of  others  ; 
hence  the  joy  wherewith  he  devoted  to  that  end  the  property 
gained  by  his  ceaseless  exertions.  The  sum  of  his  benevo- 
lence can  never  be  known :  he  did  not  until  late  in  life  fix 
on  a  proportion  of  income  as  the  minimum  of  his  gifts  ; 
when  he  did,  the  proportion  was  one-sixth.  Of  course  he 
did  not  resolve  to  give  away  only  that,  but  to  give  away  that 


306  GIVING   BY   SYSTEM. 

at  least.  Had  he  been  doubtful  as  to  the  extent  of  his  giv- 
ings,  he  would  unquestionably  have  fixed  a  proportion  ear- 
lier ;  but  he  knew  well  that  all  he  had  was  tithed,  and  more. 
One  week  he  kept  account  of  all  he  had  given ;  it  amounted 
to  sixty  pounds  ;  and  he  kept  that  account  no  more,  but  that 
week  was  considerably  above  the  average.  A  man  with  a 
heart  resistlessly  desiring  to  do  good,  may  go  on  without 
fixing  a  proportion,  and  yet  certainly  bestow  a  fit  amount  of 
his  gains ;  but  they  are  few  who  would  not  be  astounded  at 
the  small  proportions  their  givings  bear  to  their  income,  if 
they  tested  them  for  a  year.  Most  men  need,  for  their  own 
sake,  to  fix  a  minimum,  and  that  minimum  should  not  be  less 
than  one-tenth.  I  have  known  many  who  early  in  life  have 
adopted  this  principle  ;  and  where  it  has  been  steadily  main- 
tained, a  blessing  seems  ever  to  follow  it.  We  are  not  so 
addicted  to  doing  good  that  it  comes  upon  us  by  accident ; 
and  as  God  bountifully  gives,  we  should  deliberately  resolve 
that  we  will  "  honour  God  with  our  substance,  and  with  the 
first  fruits  of  our  increase."  The  work  of  charity  to  men's 
souls  and  bodies,  of  gratitude  for  God's  bounty,  is  too  sa- 
cred to  be  left  to  chance  and  impulse :  regular  and  calcu- 
lated reserves  should  be  made  for  such  outlay,  if  we  would 
not  live  to  ourselves,  but  to  Him  who  died  for  us  and  rose 
again. 

From  the  intimate  knowledge  of  Mr.  Gaskin  we  shall 
draw  our  last  glimpses  of  his  walk  with  God  : — 

"  The  friendship  which  subsisted  between  Mr.  Budgett 
and  myself  through  so  many  years,  was  cherished  under  cir- 
cumstances peculiarly  favourable  for  observing  closely  action 
as  springing  from  motive,  and  motive  as  aiming  at  an  end  ; 
and  without  the  smallest  reservation  I  must  add,  that  nevei 
have  I  witnessed  aught  more  consistent  and  pure  than 
the  busy  life  of  this  member  of  the  Christian  church.  Our 
standard  of  inference  here,  must,  of  course,  be  the  rule  pro- 


EAKLY   BISINO.  307 

scribed  by  the  Saviour, '  Bj  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them ;' 
and,  judging  from  his  entire  deportment,  we  see  how  largely 
my  relative's  heart  must  have  been  penetrated  with  Divine 
grace.  Amidst  influences  usually  accounted  unfavourable  to 
such  a  result,  how  successfully  was  the  spirituality  of  the 
soul  maintained,  and  how  beautifully  did  the  whole  tone  of 
the  outward  life  testify  to  the  principles  which  were  cher- 
ished within !  The  secret  was  this, — his  best  hours  were 
spent  with  God.  When  I  was  his  neighbour,  it  was  his  cus- 
tom— and  I  doubt  not  the  habit  was  preserved  as  long  as 
health  permitted — to  be  in  his  library  by  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  for  the  purpose  of  reading,  meditation,  and  prayer ; 
and  he  has  often,  in  conversation  with  me,  regretted  that  he 
did  not  feel  himself  physically  equal  to  an  earlier  commence- 
ment of  this  part  of  his  daily  occupations.  To  those  who 
could  thus  follow  Mr.  Budgett  from  the  exercise  of  his 
closet,  it  was  no  marvel  that  he  should  be  so  securely  carried 
through  the  ungenial  atmosphere  which  hung  over  him  as  a 
man  of  business,  and  the  bustling  scenes  amidst  which  he 
was  called  to  act  so  large  a  part.  He  was  eminently  a  man 
of  his  Bible,  and  a  man  of  prayer ;  while  '  diligent  in  busi- 
ness,' he  was  '  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.'  Imbued 
with  such  influences  as  those  which  we  have  seen  him  con- 
stantly cultivating,  and  guided  by  such  principles  as  those 
which  we  have  seen  him  constantly  exhibiting,  there  was 
nothing  in  the  active  engagements  of  his  commercial  life 
that  could  mar  his  spirit,  or  divert  his  soul  from  the  path  in 
which  he  delighted  to  walk." 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE     LATTER     END. 

"By  death  and  hell  pursued  in  Tain, 

To  thee  the  ransomed  seed  shall  com« ; 
Shouting,  their  heavenly  Sion  gain, 
And  pass  through  death  triumphant  home." 

WESLST. 

MR.  BUDGETT  had  now  reached  a  point  when  earth  might 
well  seem  a  pleasant  home.  He  was  prospering  amazingly, 
with  the  certainty  (as  men  would  say)  of  yearly  prospering 
more ;  his  family  were  grown  up,  and  their  prospects  smil- 
ing ;  the  prejudices  which  had  hung  around  his  sudden  rise 
were  disappearing;  respect,  attention,  love,  were  coming 
thick  upon  him  ;  wider  and  higher  circles  were  doing  hom- 
age to  his  excellence:  abundant  leisure  for  mental  feasts 
and  benevolent  labours  was  at  his  command ;  and,  only  fifty- 
six,  he  might  yet  for  years  rejoice  amid  the  fruits  of  his 
toil :  so  that  one,  looking  at  him  about  the  fall  of  1 850, 
might  have  said,  "  If  Samuel  Budgett  is  not  to  be  envied, 
whoia?" 

It  was  about  the  November  of  that  year,  when  walking 
up  a  hill  in  Bristol,  that  he  complained  of  a  difficulty  of 
breathing.  Then,  ascending  stairs  became  a  weariness ;  a 
new  weight  hung  upon  his  agile  step.  Day  by  day  strength 
failed  ;  the  system  betokened  decay ;  the  heart  was  affected  ; 
dropsy  was  feared  ; — the  Successful  Merchant  had  lived  too 


HE   BEGINS  TO   FAIL.  309 

fast.  His  master  energy  which  had  crushed  eo  many  diffi- 
culties had  been  doing  its  work  on  his  own  frame,  which  soon 
became  a  witness  that  over-activity  is  not  to  be  indulged 
without  shivering  a  man  at  last. 

Prone  ever  to  self-reproach,  slow  to  behold  the  full  con 
eolation  of  the  Gospel,  the  first  days  of  his  illness  were  days 
of  mourning :  not  the  mourning  of  selfish  foar,  which  shud- 
ders in  presence  of  its  just  doom,  without  sorrow  for  offences ; 
tut  the  mourning  of  a  heart  which  felt  itself  infinitely  in- 
debted to  the  Redeemer's  undeserved  mercy,  and  could  not 
forgive  itself  for  having  loved  Him  so  little  and  served  Him 
so  imperfectly.  His  soul  was  especially  weighed  down  by 
this ; — he  had  seen,  felt,  and  been  drawn  toward  that  full  sal- 
vation which  our  glorious  Saviour  has  wrought  out  for  his 
followers ;  the  glory  of  an  intimate  fellowship  with  God  had 
been  open  to  his  eye,  and  he  had  stopped  short  of  it,  had 
followed  at  a  distance,  had  served  with  a  divided  heart,  had 
consequently  oft  faltered  and  stumbled  in  his  course.  Un- 
measured self-accusation,  outgushing  grief  for  hjs  ill  return 
of  the  Saviour's  boundless  love,  open  humiliation  and  sorrow 
thrown  fully  before  friend  or  minister  or  children,  prayers  of 
piteous  abasement,  and  tears  flowing  copiously,  marked  the 
early  scenes  of  his  last  sickness.  While  many  who  had  been 
far  higher  in  their  professions  and  far  less  abundant  in  their 
fruits  were  entering  the  valley  of  death  with  an  easy  ac- 
knowledgment that  they  had  been  "  very  unfaithful,"  Samuel 
Budgett  was  pouring  floods  of  contrite  sorrow  on  the  feet  of 
that  blessed  Saviour  who  had  forgiven  him  so  much  and  had 
been  so  unworthily  requited.  But,  though  our  God  seeks 
the  sacrifice  of  a  contrite  heart,  He  delights  not  in  the  wail- 
ing of  joyless  self-reproach.  In  that  is  neither  bliss  for  His 
creature  nor  glory  for  Himself.  He  reveals  Himself  as 
freely  and  abundantly  forgiving  all  who  contritely  come 
to  Him  through  Christ ;  and  such  glorious  mercy  is  not  fitly 


310  DARKNESS  AND  MOUBNIXO. 

owned  when,  unmindful  of  its  balm,  we  persist  in  only  be- 
moaning our  sores.  This  was  Mr.  Budgett's  danger,  and 
from  this  cause  he  passed  days  of  gloom.  But  prayer  was 
made  for  him  continually,  and  friends  strong  in  faith  were 
ever  reminding  him  of  the  love  infinitely  stored  up  in  the 
Redeemer  he  adored.  That  Redeemer,  though  He  per- 
mitted sorrow  for  a  while  (as  if  to  show  that  in  sickness  all 
earthly  comforts  do  not  suffice,  even  with  good  hope  of  re- 
storation), did,  ere  long,  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  of  His 
servant  a  plenteous  consolation  which  well  showed  that  part- 
ing with  all  the  enticements  of  earth  is  not  hard  to  him 
whom  Christ  makes  joyful. 

It  has  been  my  task  to  show  you  (indistinctly  and  poor- 
ly, it  is  true)  the  Successful  Merchant  in  his  childhood,  in 
the  early  trials  of  his  way,  in  his  swift  ascent  to  wealth, 
among  his  men,  among  his  neighbours,  in  his  family,  and  in 
his  closet.  Mayhap,  in  following  him,  you  have  learned 
that  a  man  may  fear  God,  be  benevolent,  laborious  in  good 
works,  a  reader  of  his  Bible,  a  follower  of  inward  and 
spiritual  life,  and  yet  the  while  fill  up  a  man's  full  place  in 
trade  and  earn  a  prime  reward.  Now  we  have  reached  the 
moment  when  he  and  death  first  stand  openly  face  to  face. 
It  is  hope  and  fear  no  longer  :  the  hour  has  struck,  his  work 
is  done,  the  market  is  closed  for  ever ;  purchase  and  sale, 
profit  and  loss,  are  things  of  the  past.  He  is  facing  a  world 
where  there  is  no  money,  no  bargains,  no  store  and  stock  of 
earthly  good.  There  he  lies  now,  in  that  chamber,  between 
the  world  of  bustle  and  the  world  of  retribution  ;  while  this 
home,  these  possessions,  these  friends  which  his  warm  heart 
knows  how  to  value,  stand  by,  like  the  relations  of  an  emi- 
grant by  the  ship  side,  awaiting  the  moment  when  he  shall 
glide  away  to  the  unseen  country. 

Just  at  this  point  I  am  happy  to  withdraw  and  leave 
you  with  him.  The  friend  who  had  written  from  his  own 


FIRST  DAY   AFTER   DEOP8Y   APPEARS.  311 

lips  notes  of  the  recollections  of  his  childhood,  would  fain 
have  completed  the  story  of  his  life  ere  he  went  hence.  For 
this  purpose  she  came  to  his  side  ;  but  it  was  vain  now  to 
seek  recitals  of  the  past.  The  present,  however,  was  full  of 
lessons,  and  was  daily  noted.  This,  then,  enables  me  to 
lead  you  into  his  chamber,  and  leave  you  there  :  and  if  you 
-are  little  wiser  and  little  better  for  your  fellowship  with 
me,  God  grant  that  it  may  not  be  so  as  to  your  fellowship 
with  him  ! 

"  On  Monday,  March  10th,  the  first  morning  after  dropsy 
made  its  appearance,  he  said,  '  I  was  not  sorry  last  night  to 
discover  my  legs  were  swollen,  it  will  only  hasten  me  home 
the  sooner.'  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  on  return- 
ing from  Bristol,  after  hearing  Dr.  Symonds's  opinion, 
he  expressed  his  willingness  to  depart,  and  said,  '  I  dare 
say  there  will  be  a  desire  to  say  something  of  me  after  I  am 
gone ;  but  mind,  let  there  not  be  one  word  said  or  written 
to  extol  the  creature.  Mind  "  I  am  a  sinner  saved  by 
grace,"  "  a  brand  plucked  from  the  burning."  ' 

"  At  the  same  time  he  remarked, '  My  family,  how  I  love 
my  family  !  I  never  valued  my  family  as  I  value  them  now ; 
if  I  am  permitted,  I  shall  often  like  to  meet  you  in  thia 
room,  when  you  are  assembled  together.' 

"  Friday,  the  14th,  he  sent  for  Miss ,  and  said, 

'  I  sent  for  you  to  tell  you  how  happy  I  am ;  not  a  wave,  not 
a  ripple,  not  a  fear,  not  a  shadow  of  doubt.  I  didn't  think 
it  was  possible  for  man  to  e'njoy  so  much  of  God  upon  earth. 
P infilled  with  God.' 

"  On  stepping  into  the  carriage  he  stopped  and  said, 
1  How  is  Mrs.  —  — •?'  On  receiving  a  reply,  he  said  with 

solemn  earnestness,  '  0 ,  "  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom 

of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  other  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you." '  During  the  ride,  he  spoke  on  various 


312  HIS   FAMILY   PROSPECT  IIEBEAFTEB. 

subjects,  and  much  enjoyed  some  verses  that  were  repeated, 
frequently  joining  in.  A  member  of  his  class  who  saw  him, 
came  and  congratulated  him  on  being  out,  hoping  he  was 
better.  Mr.  Budgett  said  '  JVb;  I  feel  I  am  going  home. 
I  should  like  to  have  met  you  all  once  more,  but  tell  them 
all  to  meet  me  in  heaven.' 

"  Monday,  the  1 7th.  he  said  to  Miss  Budgett,  '  I  have 
passed  a  pleasant  night,  but  feel  myself  getting  weaker. 
My  stay  on  earth  will  be  but  short.  I  shall  soon  arrive  at 
home.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  think  we  shall  be  an 
unbroken  family  in  heaven.  My  father's  family  are  many 
of  them  gone ;  the  rest  are  on  the  way.  My  own  family, 
part  of  them,  are  in  heaven.  Yes,  I  have  some  dear  chil- 
dren in  heaven,  and  so  have  you  (meaning  spiritual  chil- 
dren). It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  look  on and 

,  because  I  know  they  are  trying  to  serve  the 

church,  and  when  they  have  served  their  generations  on 
earth,  they  will  join  me  above.  0,  how  thin  does  the  veil 
now  appear  which  separates  earth  from  heaven ! ' 

"  The  same  day,  to  Mrs.  M ,  speaking  of  the  un- 
certainty of  his  present  state,  he  said, '  Who  would  not  rather, 
being  brought  to  this  point,  go. — I  am  resigned.  /  have  not 
a  paper  to  sign,  not  a  shilling  to  give  away,  not  a  book  but 
any  one  may  comprehend  in  ten  minutes.  I  feel  as  if  I 
were  a  poor  sinner  saved  through  my  dear  mother's  prayers, 
the  prayers  of  my  friends,  and  my  own  poor  feeble  prayers 
offered  through  Christ.  He  cannot  cast  me  off,  but  has 
gently  guided  me  through  the  wilderness,  and  is  keeping  me 
there  till  I  am  perfected  through  suffering.' 

"  The  same  day  he  saw  Mr. : — '  I  am  glad  to  see 

you,  my  dear  friend.  How  hard  it  is  in  life  and  vigour  to 
bring  our  minds  to  believe  that  we  must  suffer.  But  the 
Lord  has  seen  fit  to  bring  me  to  a  death-bed.  I  this  day 
hang  like  a  little  child  in  a  brook,  catching  hold  of  a  branch 


WHY  SHOUU)  A  MAN  COMPLAIN?  313 

that  is  thrown  out  to  save  it ;  only  there  is  this  one  differ- 
ence in  my  case,  I  hang  upon  the  branch  of  Jesse's  stem. 
Christ  will  keep  me ;  I  am  safe.  The  day  of  mourning  is 
better  than  the  day  of  rejoicing.  God  has  blessed  me  with 
prosperity  in  life,  and  were  he  to  see  fit  to  spare  me  now,  I 
should  have  a  fairer,  prospect  of  prosperity  than  most  before 
me  ;  but  I  give  all  up.  I  would  not  alter  my  lot  if  it  were 
in  my  power  to  do  so  for  any  earthly  advantage.  The  blood 
of  Christ  is  all  to  me.  I  hang  upon  the  atonement.' 

"  In  the  afternoon,  being  a  little  restless  and  unable  to 
sleep,  he  lay  for  some  minutes  apparently  very  uncomfortable, 
when  in  an  instant  a  sweet  smile  lit  up  his  countenance  as 
he  exclaimed, '  "  Why  should  a  living  man  complain? — a  man 
for  the  punishment  of  his  sins  ?" '  and  then  burst  forth  in 
praise  to  God  for  the  mercies  which  he  enjoyed,  notwithstand- 
ing he  was  so  great  a  sinner.  Soon  after  he  raised  his  hands 
and  said,  '  Glory !  glory !  glory !  I  want  to  shout  the 
praises  of  God.' 

"  The  same  day  his  son asked  if  he  would  like 

any  message  to  be  conveyed  from  him  to  the  Young  Men's 
Association.  He  said,  '  I  am  too  weak  to  say  much ;  but 
tell  them  to  take  the  advice  I  used  to  give  them.  I  feel  for 
them  as  my  own  sons,  and  they  may  become  as  happy  and  as 
useful  as  they  are.  If  they  will  hold  together  and  try  to 
help  one  another  they  will  be  sure  to  prosper.  I  wish  them 
to  be  provided  for  after  my  death  as  they  were  before,  and  I 
leave  it  to  my  sons  to  do  so.  Tell  the  young  women  of  the 
Association  the  same.' 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  1 8th,  he  saw  Mrs.  H and  said, '  I 

am  glad  to  see  you,  I  should  like  to  have  lived  a  little  longer 
if  it  had  been  for  your  sake,  but  you'll  not  want  an  earthly 
friend.  My  sons  will  be  to  you  what  I  have  been.  I  have 
told  them  all  about  it,  and  they  will  be  kind  to  you.'  He 
inquired  if  she  had  anything  to  say  to  him  :  on  her  replying 
14" 


WORDS   TO  FRIENDS. 

she  only  wished  to  thank  him  for  all  his  kindness,  he  said, 
'  I  wish  it  had  been  more,  but  I  know  it  has  helped  you. 
Good-bye !  The  Lord  be  with  you :  cleave  to  Him  and  He 
will  be  a  friend  ;  yes,  He  will  be  your  friend,  your  husband, 
your  support.  He  will  guide  you  in  passing  through  the 
troubles  of  this  life.  He  will  be  your  shield,  your  defence, 
and  your  exceeding  great  reward.  The  time  is  passing 
away:  we  shall  soon  meet}  The  same  morning  Mr.  and 

Mrs. came.  After  some  remarks  to  Mrs. ,  he 

addressed  her  husband  : — '  My  dear : — ,  you  have  still 

to  cope  with  the  difficulties  and  trials  of  business.  I  look 
back  on  all  the  way  I  have  been  led,  and  feel  it  is  your  pri- 
vilege " to  walk  unburned  in  fire."  Cleave  to  Him;  keep 
close  to  Jesus.  Every  morning,  before  you  leave  your  room, 
inquire,  Lord  what  wouldst  thou  have  me  do?  And  every 
evening  ask  yourself,  How  much  owest  thou  unto  thy  Lord  ? 
Keep  sJtort  reckonings  with  Him;  go  forward,  and  your  path 
shall  be  as  that  of  the  just,  shining  more  and  more  into  the 
perfect  day.  I  think  I  may  have  a  little  more  suffering  be- 
fore I  go,  but  I  am  willing  to  bear  it.  Good-bye  !  "  May 
the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  keep 
your  hearts  and  minds  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God  and 
of  his  Son,  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  I" ' 

"  On  Sunday  night,  March  23rd,  before  he  was  undressed 
he  said,  'Let  us  spend  a  few  minutes  in  silent  prayer,  I  think 
I  can  hardly  bear  praying  aloud.  Pray,  my  dear  friend,  that 
we  may  jto-night  experience  the  presence  and  blessing  of  our 
heavenly  Father.  Ask  that  I  may  obtain  a  settled  calm  and 
quiet  sleep.' 

"  After  he  got  into  bed,  he  lay  for  some  hours  in  a  most 
delightful  state  of  mind,  occasionally  giving  vent  to  his  feel- 
ings in  expressions,  a  few  only  of  which  can  be  remembered. 
It  was  observed,  '  You  feel  that  your  heavenly  Father  can 
make  you  enjoy  affliction.'  '  0  yes,'  he  said, '  /  do  now ;  I 


A  SUNDAY  NIGHT  IN  SICKNESS.  315 

don't  feel  myself  like  a  sick  man,  I  feel  I  am  luxuriating  in 
God's  presence ;  but  I  believe  he  means  soon  to  take  me.' 
It  was  remarked, '  Well  yours  will  be  the  gain,  ours  the  loss.' 
Mr.  Budgett  replied, '  Yes,  I  know  to  me  it  will  be  gain,  un- 
speakable gain, — and  you  will  lose  a  friend,  but  not  much 
loss ;  I  have  not  been  so  spiritually  minded  as  I  ought,  and 
this  has  been  your  loss.'  Again  he  said, '  0,  what  a  peculiar 
feeling  I  have  this  evening :  it  is  delightful.  I  feel  as  I  did 

the  other  Sabbath  evening  with :  then  it  was  a  solemn 

eventide.  The  room  seems  filled  with  God.'  Presently  he 
said, '  I  feel  as  if  God  were  now  present,  willing  and  waiting 
to  receive  my  heart,  that  He  may  become  my  ALL,  and  give 
Himself  to  me  more  fully.  Come,  Lord,  take  away  the  last 
remains  of  sin,  make  me  ready  for  heaven  and  fit  me  for 
crossing  the  Jordan.'  Thus  he  continued  in  fervent  ejacula- 
tions till  from  complete  exhaustion  he  fell  into  a  doze. 
Waking  in  two  or  three  minutes,  he  said, '  I  felt  overpowered 
and  dropped  asleep,  and  when  I  awoke  I  thought  (pointing 
to  the  curtains)  all  this  was  my  tomb ;  but  the  room  around 
me  was  so  bright — it  was  dazzling  brightness,  too  great  to 
bear}  Continually  he  repeated, '  Pm  very  comfortable — too 
happy}  Then  again, '  This  is  a  most  remarkable  time,  I  feel 
a  solemn  sense  of  the  presence  of  God ;  so  calm,  so  beautiful.' 
Then  did  he  almost  unconsciously  slide  into  prayer — '  Lord, 
I  am  thine,  thou  art  mine.  I  have  made  a  covenant  with 
thee,  I  would  not  break  it  for  a  thousand  worlds.  Lord, 
keep  me,  baptize  me  anew,  help  me  to  rejoice  more  fully  in 
Thee,  give  a  still  clearer  witness  that  I  am  wholly  thine. 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest^ 

Offered  His  blood  and  died ; 
My  guilty  conscience  seeks 

No  sacrifice  beside. 
His  blood  for  me  did  once  atone, 
And  now  it  pleads  before  the  throne," ' 


316  WHO  IS  NEAREST  DEATH? 

Afterwards  he  broke  out — 

' "  0,  here  is  rest  and  calm  repoee ; 

Here  all  my  sorrows  cease ; 
For  Jesus  meet*  my  spirit  here, 
And  kindly  whispers  peace." ' 

"  Wednesday  evening,  April  2nd. — For  the  first  time  he 
was  carried  up  stairs.  On  the  way  he  said  to  the  men  who 
carried  him,  '  I  am  quite  ready  to  be  carried  down  whenever 
my  heavenly  Father  sees  fit.  Thank  God,  I  have  a  hope 
beyond  the  grave.'  On  being  seated  he  said,  '  Wait ;  I 
want  to  tell  you  on  what  my  hope  is  fixed.  Listen.'  He 
then  repeated  his  favourite  verse, — 

'  "  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest»  Ac." 

I  thank  God  for  such  an  assurance : — 

"  I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me," 

and  not  for  me  only,  he  is  willing  to  receive  all — any  may 
come.  See,  this  is  the  way  all  must  come,  through  Him. 
"  This  man  receiveth  sinners  still."  ' 

"  Tuesday,  April  8. — At  Weston-super-Mare,  the  Rev 

T called.     After  some  remarks  had  passed  respecting 

his  health,  Mr.  Budgett  said,  '  Well,  you  know  there  is  not 
really  any  more  uncertainty  about  my  life  than  yours,  or 
any  other  person's  ;  you  may  be  gone  in  an  hour  or  two,  or 
BO  may  I :  but  I  have  no  great  desire  either  way  ;  for  me 
to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain  ;  but  if  I  might  choose, 
I  would  rather  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far,  far 
better.'  He  then  repeated,  with  an  emphasis  never  to  be 
forgotten, — 


A  NEIGHBOUR  GONE  BEFORE.          317 

1 "  Thou  Shepherd  of  Israel  and  mine, 

The  joy  and  desire  of  my  heart     ' 
For  closer  communion  I.  pine, 

I  LONG  to  reside  where  thou  art 
A/I,  show  me  that  happiest  place, 

The  place  of  thy  people's  abode, 
"Where  saints  in  an  ecstasy  gaze, 

And  hang  on  a  crucified  God."  ' 

As  he  repeated  these  lines  the  tears  streamed  down,  plainly 
indicating  that  more  was  really  felt  than  could  be  expressed. 
The  next  day  when  dressed,  he  said,  '  Well,  I'm  glad  we  are 
going  home  to-day  ;  I  shall  not  have  many  more  changes  j 
this  I  expect  will  be  my  last  change,  till  I  am  removed  to 
that  beautiful  little  place  they  call  the  tomb  :  yes,  I  feel  that 
my  next  remove  will  be  to  the  chapel  yard.' 

"On  Thursday,  April  10th,  he  said,  'And  so  poor  J. 

H is  gone  !  Poor  fellow  !  do  you  know  what  sort  of 

an  end  he  made?'  On  his  being  told  nothing  was  known  on 
that  subject,  he  said,  '  Poor  fellow  !  the  last  time  I  saw  him 
I  talked  to  him,  and  begged  him  not  to  build  on  his  health.  I 
told  him  how  many  were  called  away  in  the  midst  of  health. 
I  have  often  talked  to  him  on  the  necessity  of  seeking  a 
change  of  heart.  I  don't  know  whether  it  was  the  last  time 
I  saw  him,  but  it  is  not  long  since  that  I  gave  him  the 
"  Sinner's  Friend."  ' 

"  Friday  evening,  April  1 1th. — Conversing  with  his  medi- 
cal attendant,  he  again  inquired  as  to  the  probable  result  of 
his  sickness,  and  on  being  told  it  was  still  very  uncertain,  he 
said, — '  Well,  when  I  look  around  at  my  family  and  the 
church,  I  feel  as  if  life  would  still  be  a  blessing.  T  am  not 
one  of  those  who  are  weary  of  the  world,  nor  do  1  feel  any 
sympathy  with  such  ;  but  when  I  look  at  myself  as  an  indi- 
vidual, I  feel  'twere  better  far  to  go. 


318  THE  SOURCE  OF  SUCCESS. 

"  There  is  my  house  my  portion  fair, 
My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 
And  my  abiding  home." 

But  I  did  not  feel  like  this  at  the  beginning  of  my  illness  ; 
then  I  felt  my  own  unfaithfulness  had  been  so  great,  I 
wished  to  be  spared  a  few  years  longer  that  I  might  prepare 
for  heaven ;  but  I  have  been  led  to  see  that  I  can  do  nothing 
to  merit  heaven.  Could  I  live  like  an  archangel,  still  I 
should  not  merit  heaven  :-i— 

"  In  my  hands  no  price  I  bring, 
Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling." 

I  trust  now  in  the  merits  of  my  Saviour—  in  His  atoning 
blood.  I  feel  that  it  is  "  not  by  works  of  righteousness  which 
we  have  done,  but  of  his  mercy  hath  he  saved  us."  No,  it  is 
"  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  your- 
selves, it  is  the  gift  of  God."  One  being  named  who  was 
getting  old,  he  said,  '  Oh  !  he  has  made  a  god  of  his  money. 
Often  have  I  talked  to  him  and  urged  him  to  make  prepara- 
tion for  a  better  country.  0,  what  is  all  the  world  worth  to 
a  dying  man  ?  Riches  I  have  had  as  much  as  my  heart 
could  desire,  but  I  never  felt  any  pleasure  in  them  for  their 
own  sake,  only  so  far  as  they  enabled  me  to  give  pleasure  to 
others :  as  for  honour " 

"Sunday  evening,  April  13th. — {I  have  toiled,  and  now 
others  will  enter  into  my  labours.'  Then  dwelling  on  the 
success  which  had  attended  his  efforts,  he  said,  '  This  may 
seem  like  boasting,  but  I  feel  that  everything  which  has 
been  well  done  and  prospered  is  that  in  which  I  was  prompt- 
ed and  guided  and  assisted  by  my  heavenly  Father,  and  that 
which  failed  was  when  I  leaned  upon  my  own  efforts  and 
endeavours,  and  then  they  proved  weak  and  powerless.' 

"  To  a  young  friend  who  was  with  him,  he  said, '  I  should 


WHAT   IIE  LOOKED   FOE  IN   HEAVEN.  319 

like  to  have  lived  a  little  longer  for  your  sake.  Sometimei 
I  feel  as  if  I  should  like  to  look  forward  and  trace  your 
course  through  life.  Yes,  I  should  like  to  mark  out  your 
path  for  you ;  but  this  is  wrong.  I  may  not  choose  the  best 
path,  neither  can  you ;  but  /  can  and  do  commend  you  to 
the  care  of  our  heavenly  Father.  He  will  guide  you  aright. 
"  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord  ;  trust  also  in  Him,  and  He 
shall  bring  it  to  pass."  0,  "  in  all  your  ways  acknowledge 
Him,  then  He  will  direct  thy  steps." '  Soon  after,  looking 
very  earnestly  at  her,  he  said, ' ':  Let  your  eye  be  single,  then 
your  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light."  MIND  ;  keep  a  sin- 
gle eye ; — do  you  hear  ?  In  all  the  events  of  life  keep  a 
single  eye.'  On  being  told  after  the  evening  service,  at 
which  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  had  been  adminis- 
tered, how  fervently  he  had  been  prayed  for,  he  said, '  Ah, 
they  will  not  have  to  pray  for  me  again  on  such  an  occasion ; 
before  another  month  goes  round  I  shall  be  in  a  better  coun- 
try.' It  was  said, '  How  delightful  is  the  thought  that  you 
will  so  soon  be  there  !  there  you  will  have  a  harp  of  gold,  be 
clothed  in  white  raiment,  and  have  a  crown  upon  your  head.1 
4  Yes,'  he  said, '  I  like  to  hear  of  the  beauties  of  heaven,  but 
I  do  not  dwell  upon  them ;  no,  what  I  rejoice  in  is,  that 
Christ  will  be  there.  Where  He  is,  there  shall  I  be  also.  I 
know  that  He  is  in  me  and  I  in  Him.  I  shall  see  Him  as 
He  is.  I  delight  in  knowing  that.  I  have  no  dread  of 
death ;  I  have  not  had  for  some  time.  I  wish  one  of  you 
would  write  to  Mr.  Wood  ;  give  him  my  love,  and  tell  him 
I  thank  God  almost  every  day  for  his  visit  here.  Since 
that  first  night  he  was  with  me,  I  have  had  no  fear ;  the 
enemy  has  assaulted  me  once  or  twice,  but  only  for  a  short 
time.' 

"  Wednesday,  April  16th. — On  seeing  Mrs. ,  after 

a  few  observations,  he  asked,  '  How  many  children  have  you 
in  heaven  ?'  She  replied,  '  Nine.'  On  which  he  said, '  0, 


320  FAMILY  PE06PECT8. 

what  a  happy  company !  I  look  forward  to  sec  my  father 
and  mother,  my  sisters, — and  some  of  my  dear  children  are 
there.  Yes,  and  I  believe  my  dear  wife,  and  the  rest  of  my 
children,  and  every  one  of  my  relations,  will  meet  me  there. 
I  look  upon  myself  as  the  most  unworthy,  when  I  consider 
the  many  privileges  I  have  enjoyed,  the  light  I  have  received 
ever  since  I  was  a  child.  I  know  I  have  always  felt  some- 
thing of  the  hidden  life,  but  I  have  not  always  lived  so 
closely  to  God  as  I  should  ;  for  this  t  humble  myself  before 

Him.     I  am  glad  to  see  Mr. seeking  after  God  ;  he 

is  altered,  but  I  want  to  see  him  decided  ;  nothing  else  will 
do :  even  he  can't  escape  the  shafts  of  death.  "  Be  ye  there- 
fore ready,  for  at  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of 
man  cometh."' 

"  The  same  afternoon  he  saw  Miss  F ,  to  whom 

he  ppoke  most  sweetly  of  the  many  mercies  and  comforts 
he  enjoyed,  recapitulating  many  of  them  to  her,  whilst  his 
heart  seemed  overflowing  with  gratitude.  Soon  after  he  re- 
peated,— 

'  "My  God,  I  am  thine,  what  a  comfort  divine, 
What  a  blessing  to  know  that  Jesus  is  mine,"  Ac. 

That  was  brother  Henry's  favourite  verse.  How  many  times 
he  repeated  it  during  his  last  illness !  But  this  is  my  fa- 
vourite.— 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,"  Ac. 

How  much  is  contained  in  that  verse !     How  full,  is  it  not  ?' 

"  Saturday,  the  19th.— He  said  to  S A , (  Just 

now  I  woke  up  all  in  a  turmoil,  wondering  who  would  take 
care  of  Society  matters  when  I  am  gone,  and  then  I  thought 
of  my. own  spiritual  cares  ;  but  I  can  cast  them  all  upon  my 
Saviour, — 


EXPECTS  SUDDEN  DEATH.  321 

0  E'er  since  by  faith  I  saw  the  streams, 

Thy  flowing  wounds  supply, 
Redeeming  love  has  been  my  theme, 
And  shall  be  till  I  die." 

As  to  the  circuit  affairs,  I  leave  them  all  with  W ;  they 

need  not  trouble  me  any  more.' 

"  To  his  son  William  he  said,  '  You  are  entering  life  un- 
der very  different  circumstances,  with  regard  to  temporal 
things,  to  what  I  did  ;  pursue  the  same  course  I  have  done, 
and  your  way  is  made  :  let  there  be  this  difference,  where  I 
have  followed  trifles,  you  follow  trie  dictates  of  the  Spirit ; 
wherein  I  have  followed  my  senses,  you  cleave  close  to  God, 
and -all  will  be  well.  If  you  do  that,  in  twenty  years'  time, 
if  you  should  be  spared,  I  shall  look  down  upon  you,  and  I 
shall  see  you  respected  and  beloved  by  all  the  neighbour- 
hood.' That  text  was  repeated  to  him,  '  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,'  &c.  '  Ah,'  he  said,  '  I  can't  say  with  the  Apos- 
tle, "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ;"  for  I  have  not.  I  have 
been  unfaithful ;  but  there  is  an  atonement  through  Jesus. 
I  can  say,  I  have  almost  "  finished  my  course ;  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day." ' 

"  Saturday  morning,  the  19th. — On  being  told  the  water 
was  advancing,  he  said,  '  I  thank  God — for  that  I'm  glad ;  I 
believe  I  shall  go  soon ;  it  does  not  alarm  me.  I  think  I 
shall  go  suddenly ;  but  if  I  go  in  a  moment  it  does  not  mat- 
ter, all  will  be  well.'  In  the  afternoon  he  observed, '  How 
our  heavenly  Father  paves  our  way  down  to  the  tomb  !  I 
seem  so  happy  and  comfortable ;  it  seems  as  if  it  cannot  be 
for  me,  as  if  it  must  be  for  somebody  else, — I  don't  deserve 
it.'  Soon  after  his  bell  rang,  and  on  entering  his  room  he 
was  seated  on  the  side  of  the  bed,  gasping  for  breath.  He 
said, c  0, 1  thought  I  was  just  going ;  the  wind,  or  water,  or 
14* 


322  JOT   AND  PEAISE. 

something,  rose  and  almost  suffocated  me.  Yes,  I  thought 
I  was  going.'  Then  added, '  I  am  so  happy,  so  comfortable, 

so  very  Jiappy.'     To  Mrs.  J B he  said, '  I  am 

glad  to  see  you.  I  have  sympathized  with  you  deeply  in 
your  affliction.  Our  times  of  meeting  are  growing  into  a 
narrow  compass  now.  This  may  be  the  last  time,  or  at  most 
we  shall  not  meet  above  once  or  twice  more  ;  not  that  I 
have  any  particular  presentiment  of  the  sort,  for  God  may 
revive  me  again.  I  may  be  spared  to  walk  among  you  yet, 
but  I  think  not ;  from  the  rapidity  with  which  the  water 
seems  to  be  rising,  it  will  not  be  long ;  I  may  go  off  now, 
this  moment,  while  I  am  talking  to  you  ;  and  I  should  not 
be  sorry.  I  am  as  weak  as  an  infant :  now  I  can  do  noth- 
ing. Glory  be  to  God,  all  is  well.  My  temporal  affairs  I 
leave  in  the  hands  of  my  sons,  and  my  spiritual  affairs  with 
my  Saviour.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  my  comforts  and  con- 
solations abound. 

"  Better  than  my  boding  fear8> 
To  me  thou  oft  hast  proved." 

I  have  sunk  into  the  arms  of  omnipotent  love.  I  cannot  tell 
you  how  much  mercy  I  have  been  the  subject  of.  I  love  you, 
and  am  thankful  I  was  introduced  to  your  family :  thankful 
for  my  children's  sake.  I  only  regret  that  I  have  benefited 
BO  little  from  your  society.  Give  my  love  to  all  your  dear 
family,  tell  them  they  have  my  highest  respect  and  best 
wishes  that  they  may  enjoy  every  blessing  both  for  body  and 
soul.' 

"  The  same  evening,  when  several  were  in  his  room,  he 
inquired, '  Can  you  tell  me  what  a  debt  I  owe  to  God  for 
having  giving  me  such  innumerable  mercies  and  comforts? 
He  has  indeed  given  me  plenty  of  this  world's  goods ;  each 
of  my  children  will  have  ample,  and  my  dear  wife  too.  I 
nave  every  comfort  I  can  desire ;  O,  tell  me  how  much  / 


CALLS  TO   FRIENDS.  323 

owe !  How  can  I  pay  this  debt  of  gratitude  ?  There  hat 
been  many  a  time  when  I  have  given  away  my  last  shilling 
and  now  I  have  more  than  I  could  have  desired,  and  the  more 
I  give  away  the  more  comes  in ;  and  I  have  more  coming  in 
than  ever  I  had.  What  a  mercy  to  have  so  many  kind 
friends.  I  am  surprised  at  your  kindness  and  willingness  to 
do  so  many  little  acts  of  love  for  me.  I  hope  none  of  you 
will  ever  want  for  kind  attention  in  affliction. 

"Kindness  gives  the  fleeting  flcwer 
Of  life  its  lustre  and  perfume 
And  we  are  weeds  without  it" 

0,  God  has  bestowed  upon  me  far  above  my  desires ;  tell  me, 
my  dear  friend,  how  much  I  owe !  I  enjoy  all  these  tem- 
poral blessings,  and  how  can  I  repay  the  debt  for  these  ?  But 
this  is  not  a  thousandth  part  of  the  debt  I  owe.  0  no ; 
when  I  think  of  my  spiritual  mercies,  I'm  lost.  When  I 
think  of  my  heavenly  Father's  goodness — a  brand  plucked 
from  the  eternal  burning,  soon  to  be  raised  to  live  with 
angels,  and  above  all  with  Himself, — I  feel  I  have 

"Riches  above  what  earth  can  grant, 
And  lasting  as  the  mind!"' 

Then  in  a  rapture,  and  with  tears  of  joy  streaming  down  hia 
face,  he  exclaimed, '  0,  I'm  overwhelmed  with  love.  I  want 
to  fly  to  preach  Christ  to  all  the  world.  I'll  praise  him 
everywhere.  Can  I  be  lost  ?  0  no,  no.  0, 1  want  to  preach 
Christ.  I  am  overburdened  with  love  and  gratitude.' 

"  Sunday  afternoon,  April  20th.— To  Mrs.  P he 

said, '  Tell  Mr.  P that  I  come  saying, — 

"  Jesus,  my  Great  High  Priest,"  Ac., 

and  tell  him  to  come  in  the  same  way,  and  there  is  no  time 
to  lose.  Nothing  I  have  ever  done,  and  nothing  he  has  ever 


324  WOBD6  TO  YOUNG  MEN. 

done,  can  save  him.  No,  we  must  come  as  poor  worthier 
sinners  to  Jesus, — 

"  That  only  ground  of  all  my  plea." 

You  don't  know  what  mental  suffering  I  had  at  the  com- 
mencement of  my  illness.  The  adversary  came  to  me,  and 
tormented  me  with  fears  of  all  kinds ;  he  showed  me  my 
great  unfaithfulness,  told  me  I  had  deceived  my  friends  (not 
designedly  I  know)  with  a  good  moral  exterior,  whilst  my 
heart  was  not  right  within.  I  know  there  was  truth  in  it 
all,  and  was  distressed  boyond  measure,  but  I  was  enabled  to 
say, — Lord,  I  am  a  sinner :  God  be  merciful  unto  me ;  I  am 
lost,  but  Christ  hath  died.  From  that  night  I  have  had  no 
fear.  The  sting  of  death  is  gone.  I  had  some  fear  of  death 
at  the  beginning,  because  of  my  past  unfaithfulness ;  but  the 
merits  of  Christ  are  all-sufficient.  Now  I  enjoy  a  sweet 
calm: — 

"  I  bless  the  day  that  I  was  born." ' 

Then,  as  in  a  rapture  he  exclaimed, '  0,  I  can't  describe  my 
happiness.  I  bless  God  that  He  created  me,  that  He  has 
spared  me,  and  that  He  has  pardoned  me.  I  thank  God 
that  you  and  I  were  ever  acquainted,  that  I  ever  saw  your 
dear  sister,  and  that  I  was  ever  united  to  her.  0,  God  has 
been  very  gracious  to  me.  I  praise  Him  for  the  past,  what 
He  has  done  for  me !  I  praise  Him  for  the  present,  what 
He  is  now  doing  for  me  !  and  I  praise  Him  for  the  future, 
knowing  what  He  will  do  for  me.' 

"  One  of  his  nephews  coming  to  see  him,  he  said, '  Well 

F ,  how  are  you?     I  have  heard  that  you  have  been 

poorly,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  better  again.  Are  you  come 
out  of  the  affliction  as  gold  purified  1 '  He  then  spoke  to 
him  of  the  necessity  of  a  change  of  heart,  of  the  simplicity 


THE  LOBD'S  SUPPEE.  325 

of  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  of  the  depth  of  the  love  which 
Jesus  Christ  had  manifested  towards  us.  Once  or  twice  he 
asked  him  whether  he  did  not  believe  in  the  love  of  his 
Saviour, — His  willingness  to  save  all  who  came  to  Him. 
Then  endeavouring  to  explain  the  way  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  he  said, '  Suppose  that  you  wished  to  buy  some  sheep 
of  me  and  had  paid  the  money,  and  I  had  promised  to  let  you 
have  them  ;  you  would  believe  they  were  yours  though  they 
were  in  my  field,  as  much  as  if  you  had  them  in  your  own, 
because  I  had  promised  them  :  so  you  must  believe  that 
God  will  give  you  the  blessings  you  require  of  Him.  Now, 
take  your  bad  heart  up  stairs,  don't  take  it  down  to 
the  breakfast  table ;  but  take  it  up  at  once  and  give  it  to 
God.  He  will  then  accept  it  and  make  you  as  happy  as  I 
am  in  my  affliction.  Do  go  and  fall  on  your  knees  and  ask 
mercy  while  it  is  offered,  and  you  will  be  sure  to  obtain  it.' 
Having  thus  earnestly  urged  him  to  come  to  Christ  at  once, 
he  said,  '  You  will  be  happier  yourself,  and  you  will  return 
home  under  a  different  influence,  be  useful  to  your  uncle  and 
aunt  and  Sarah.' 

"  In  the  afternoon  he  sent  for  Miss  Budgett  (Mrs.  Bud- 
gett  and  Mrs.  Mees  were  already  there)  and  said  he  felt 
better  and  should  like  to  receive  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper — a  wish  he  had  several  times  before  expressed,  but 
from  weakness  had  been  prevented.  He  then  told  Miss  B. 
he  should  like  her  to  question  him  closely,  lest  he  should 
have  made  any  mistake  on  the  subject,  and  for  her  to  read 
and  pray  witE  him.  She  then  read  to  him  the  23d  Psaha, 
and  the  hymn  commencing, — 

'And  let  this  feeble  body  fell,'  &c. 

After  this,  all  his  family  being  assembled,  the  two  ministers, 
Messrs.  Clay  and  Kevern,  came,  and  the  solemn  ordinance 


326  SINGING   IN   FEEBLENESS. 

was  administered.  During  the  service  Mr.  Budgett's  mind 
Bcemed  fully  absorbed  by  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  He 
several  times  added  his  loud  'amen'  to  the  petitions  pre- 
sented to  the  throne  of  grace,  especially  during  the  conclud- 
ing prayer.  The  service  was  greatly  abbreviated  in  conse- 
quence of  his  extreme  weakness,  and  it  was  feared,  brief  as 
it  was,  that  his  feeble  frame  would  be  exhausted  by  the 
effort  required;  but  after  its  conclusion,  the  rapture  of  his 
spirit  seemed  to  give  strength  to  his  body,  and  he  requested 
a  hymn  to  be  sung.  On  a  fear  being  expressed  lest  it 
should  prove  too  much  for  him,  he  reiterated  with  great  ar- 
dour, '  Sing,  sing.'  The  Rev.  Charles  Clay  then  gave  out 
three  verses  of — 

'Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind,' 

during  which  time  Mr.  Budgett,  seated  on  the  side  of  his 
bed,  his  countenance  beaming  with  almost  angelic  joy,  his 
eyes  streaming,  his  chin  quivering  with  emotion,  and  his 
hands  upraised,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  joined  most 
.heartily  in  the  singing, — reminding  one  of  some  old  prophet, 
or  the  patriarch  Jacob,  surrounded  by  his  family,  giving 
them  his  last  blessing.  He  appeared  in  a  perfect  ecstasy  of 
joy  and  triumph,  and  continued  to  utter  the  most  joyful  ex- 
pressions of  faith  in  Christ  and  hope  of  heaven. 

"  Some  of  his  expressions  were  to  the  following  effect : — 
1  0,  I  see  such  a  fulness  of  merit  in  the  atonement  of  my 
Saviour.'  '  I  am  a  poor  vile  sinner,  but  the  blood  of  Jesus 
avails  even  for  me.'  '  I  have  been  unfaithful ;  my  only  re- 
gret is  my  own  unfaithfulness.  If  I  could  live  over  again, 
I  think  I  should  be  more  faithful ;  but  that  is  all  past  and 
forgiven.' 

"  He  then  quoted  his  favourite  verse, — 

'Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,'  <kc. 


EXCEEDING  GREAT  JOT.  327 

and  said,  '  There  I  rest ;  Satan  cannot  drive  me  from  this 
For  many  days  he  has  not  been  permitted  to  melest  me,1 
and  then  described  with  much  energy  his  last  conflict  with 
the  adversary  of  souls.  His  son  James  said,  '  We  shall  all 
soon  meet  in  heaven.1  '  Yes,'  he  replied  (looking  round 
upon  his  family),  '  yes,  thank  God !  He  has  not  left  a 
wish  ungratified,  a  desire  unsatisfied,  either  temporal  or 
spiritual.'  -.  * 

"  He  also  said,  amongst  several  other  similar  exclama- 
tions, '  This  is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life — the  happiest 
hour.  I  am  ready  to  go  this  moment,  or  ready  to  stay.  0, 
how  would  I  preach  if  I  could  preach  now  ! '  He  bade  his 
ministers  a  very  affectionate  farewell,  and  on  one  of  them 
repeating  the  lines, — 

'I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me,' 

he  fervently  responded  to  the  sentiment,  and  added, '  /  never 
asked  for  joy,  I  always  thought  myself  unworthy  of  it ; 
but  He  has  given  me  more  than  I  asked.'  It  being  said, 
'  He  giveth  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  we  ask  or  think,1 
he  replied, '  Thank  God— thank  God !' 

"  After  the  ministers  had  retired  he  requested  that  an- 
other hymn  might  be  sung ;  on  which  Edwin's  favourite 
being  selected — 

'  How  happy  every  child  of  grace,' 

he  said,  '  Yes,  and  Edwin  will  join  us.'  He  again  united 
most  heartily  in  the  singing,  and  proposed  to  have  another 
hymn,  when  it  was  again  suggested  it  might  prove  injurious 
to  him.  '  0  no,'  he  replied,  '  there  is  no  chance  of  my  re- 
covery, nothing  will  hurt  me  now ;  I  am  going  home  ;  no 
thing  can  hurt  me  now,  and  I  thank  God  I  am  ready  to  go 
this  moment,  or  am  willing  to  wait  longer.  If  it  were  put 


328  AN   HOUR  TO   BE   REMEMBERED. 

to  my  choice  now,  whether  I  would  live  for  a  few  yeari 
longer  to  enjoy  increased  riches  and  multiplied  friends,  or 
whether  I  would  go  home  at  once,  I  would  no  more  choose 
than  I  would  go  into  a  foreign  country  that  I  know  nothing 
about.'  Then  turning  to  his  son  Samuel — '  Samuel,  be  faith- 
ful, my  boy ;  I  could  have  wished  to  live  a  little  longer  to 
watch  your  progress.  Preach  Christ ;  let  nothing  discourage 
you.  You  have  not  seen  your  best  days,  cmly  follow  the 
light  imparted.  Let  your  eye  be  single,  and  your  whole 
body  shall  be  full  of  light.' 

"  Addressing  himself  to  Mrs. ,  he  assured  her  of 

the  happiness  he  had  in  his  own  family,  the  pleasure  he  felt 
in  being  connected  with  her  family,  his  first  thoughts  on  see- 
ing her,  &c.,  &c. ;  but  his  own  expressions  cannot  be  remem- 
bered :  indeed,  but  a  faint  idea  can  be  conveyed  of  that  so- 
lemn but  joyful  hour.  Altogether  it  was  such  a  scene  as 
is  seldom  witnessed  on  earth.  It  was  the  full  triumph  of 
faith.  An  impression  was  made  on  the  minds  of  all  pre- 
sent which  can  never  be  obliterated.  The  language  of  all 
seemed  to  be,  '  How  dreadful  is  this  place ;  this  is  none 
other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.' 

"  Tuesday,  the  22nd. — '  0,'  he  said,  '  I  want  rest ;  this 

pain  and  suffering  make  me  long  for  rest.'  Mrs.  J 

said,  '  This  will  no  doubt  make  the  heavenly  rest 

more  sweet.'  '  0  yes,'  he  replied, 

"'Sweet  as  home  to  pilgrims  weary, 

Light  to  newly  open'd  eyes, 
Flowing  springs  in  deserts  dreary, 

Is  the  rest  the  cross  supplies ; 
All  who  taste  it,  shall  to  life  immortal  rise." ' 

He  then  said,  '  I  believe  that  had  I  but  been  faithful  my 
life  would  have  been  spared.  0,  my  dear  friend,  take  care 
to  make  sure  work  for  heaven ;  attend  to  the  most  important 


THE  END   IS   NIGH.  329 

end  of  life ;  remember  it  is  said,  "  Seek  ye  first,  &c."  I  am 
sure  religion  will  never  make  a  man  less  successful  in  busi 
ness.  No,  I  believe  he  who  has  the  one  thing  needful  will 
excel  the  most  in  business.' 

"  Wednesday  he  inquired  of  F , '  What  day  is  it  ?' 

She  replied,  '  Wednesday.'  On  which  he  said,  '  But  what 
day  of  the  month  is  it  ? '  On  his  being  told,  the  twenty- 

ihird,  he  observed,  '  Ah,  F ,  the  first  week  in  May 

you  will  all  be  in  deep  mourning ;  yes,  by  the  first  week  in 
May  you  will  all  be  in  deep  mourning.'  In  the  afternoon  he 
was  carried  down  stairs,  and,  seated  in  the  pony  carriage, 
rode  round  his  grounds.  He  was  very  observant ;  and  see- 
ing some  docks  in  the  grass  said,  '  These  should  not  be ; 
after  the  next  rain  get  half-a-dozen  men,  and  have  them  up. 

You  know  the  way,  J .'     On  passing,  he  pointed,  and 

said,  '  That  tree  bears  a  beautiful  yellow  pear ;  it  is  a  good 
sort ;  you  notice  them,  but  I  shall  not  be  here  to  taste 
them.'  The  carriage  being  stopped  that  he  might  enjoy  the 

fresh  air,  he  took  the  opportunity  of  speaking  to  L , 

and  urged  upon  him  the  great  importance  of  making  sure 
work  for  eternity — speaking  to  him  with  that  energy  which 
showed  how  deeply  he  felt  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

Then  turning  to  J ,  he  said,  '  I  've  been  talking  to 

L ;  I  feel  anxious  that  this  affliction  may  be  blessed 

to  him :  it  has  been  to  me,  and  I  want  it  to  be  to  him  also.' 
On  returning,  he  said  to  J , '  These  fields  look  plea- 
sant, don't  they,  J ?  I  am  glad  to  go  and  leave  all 

so  comfortable  for  you  to  enjoy ;  but  remember  the  end.  0 
let  a  right  use  be  made  of  the  enjoyment.' 

"In  the  evening  he  saw  Mr.   J B ,  and 

after  speaking  of  some  temporal  and  pecuniary  matters,  he 
expressed  his  gratitude  to  God  for  the  comfortable  circum- 
stances in  which  he  should  leave  his  family.  .  .  .He  then 
•poke  of  the  different  appearance  the  garden,  grounds,  and 


330  LAST  WOBDS  TO   AN   OLD   FRIEND. 

fields  presented  from  what  they  did  when  first  he  came  to 
Kingswood  and  from  the  time  when  he  bought  the  land,  and 
of  the  goodness  of  God  who  had  enabled  him  to  mate  such 
an  improvement.  He  described  the  wilderness  of  spelter 
works  and  cinders  which  covered  the  ground,  and  said, '  Often 

when  I  was  apprenticed  to  your  uncle  H ,  have  I  come 

down  here  on  a  Sunday  after  chapel,  and,  sitting  on  a  flag 
between  the  old  walls,  renewed  my  covenant  with  God  whilst 
His  love  was  abundantly  shed  abroad  in  my  soul.  I  used 
often  literally  to  stop  my  ears  as  I  came  from  chapel,  lest 
any  sound  should  draw  off  my  mind  from  the  sermon  I  had 
heard ;  and  after  thinking  it  all  over  as  I  sat  on  the  stone,  I 
committed  to  memory  some  piece  of  poetry  out  of  one  of  the 
old  Methodist  Magazines  every  Sunday,  and  little  did  I  then 
think  that  land  would  one  day  become  my  own  and  be  so 
altered.' 

"  Thursday,  April  24th,  he  saw  Mr.  P ,  and  said, 

f  Ah,  we  cannot  always  have  health  ;  no  man  can  always  have 
health.  But  it  is  a  mercy  to  feel  these  light  afflictions  are 
but  for  a  moment,  and  will  work  out  for  us  a  more  exceeding 
weight  of  glory,  whilst  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen,  but  at  those  which  are  not  seen.  Yes,  we  must  look  at 
those  which  are  not  seen.  We  must  be  earnest  in  the  pur- 
suit of  them.  0,  my  dear  brother,  I  have  thought  of  you 
very  much  ;  I  have  thought  of  you  with  an  intensity  of  feel- 
ing. You  are  kind,  honourable,  and  well-disposed  ;  but  I 
feel  in  looking  back  that  I  have  not  always  possessed  that 
spirituality  of  mind  which  I  should  :  you  have  seen  the  want 
of  it  in  me,  and  I  ask  your  forgiveness.  I  entreat  you  now 
to  seek  religion.  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you."  Without  it  life  is  lost ;  there  is  no  enjoyment  without 
it.  O,  seek  for  it  at  once !  Now  is  the  accepted  time ;  now 
is  the  day  of  salvation.  Come  this  very  day ;  let  us  at  onoe 


LAST  WORDS  TO  AN   OLD   FKD2ND.  331 

say,  "  I  am  determined  to  come  to  the  Saviour.  Lord  re- 
ceive me  now  as  a  poor  sinner.  I  come  that  I  may  now  be 
saved  ;  if  I  perish  it  shall  be  entreating  for  pardon."  0, 
take  my  advice,  do  let  us  be  in  earnest ;  both  of  us  have 
been  too  intent  upon  seeking  this  world's  good,  now  let  us 
seek  earnestly  for  that  which  alone  will  save.  To-morrow 
may  be  too  late ;  to-morrow  we  may  lose  our  reason.  O  may 
you  come  to-day  and  seek  happiness  while  it  may  be  found. 
This  may  be  your  last  opportunity.  Then  come  to  the  Saviour 
now.  There  is  no  time  like  the  present.  In  a  few  weeks  we 
shall  be  united  or  separated  for  ever :  it  is  a  solemn  thought 
The  Lord  bless  you  and  your  family,  and  secure  you  a  lot 
among  the  blest !  Every  thing  else  is  vanity.  I  thought 
four  days  ago  that  I  was  dying.  I  then  felt  that  there  is  in 
religion — in  the  love  and  knowledge  of  God,  a  reality,  a 
power  to  support  in  the  hour  of  death.  I  could  say, — 

"  There  is  my  house  and  portion  fair, 
My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 

And  my  abiding  home ; 
For  me  my  elder  brethren  stay, 
And  angels  beckon  me  away, 

And  Jesus  bids  me  come." 

It  is  quite  my  desire  to  go,  not  because  of  my  faithfulness, 
for  I  feel  I  have  not  been  faithful,  but  I  fly  to  Christ  for 
refuge — there  I  can  rest  and  feel  saved.  You  and  I  may 
both  rest  on  that  foundation.1  Then  looking  earnestly  at 

Mr.  P ,  he  inquired,  '  Have  you,  my  dear  brother,  an 

assurance  of  your  title  to  heaven  ?  Do  you  feel  that  should 
death  come  now  you  have  a  mansion  above  ?  Are  you  now 
assured  of  it  ?  0,  remain  not  without  it :  we  may  get  it 
to-day  ;  we  may  obtain  it  now.  0,  seek  for  it ;  remembor, 
"  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  0, 
what  a  blessing !  I  should  like  to  pray  with  you  for  a  few 


332      LAST  CONVERSATION  WITH  FRIENDS  IN  TRADE. 

minutes ;  but  am  too  weak.  Good-bye !  may  we  all  meet  at 
last.' 

"  Saturday,  the  26th. — Hearing  a  loud  peal  of  thunder, 
he  said,  "  Hush  !  'tis  the  voice  of  a  Father — 'tis  the  voice  of 

a  God  !'     In  the  evening  Mr.  Budgett  saw  Mr.  S and 

Mr.  P [I  think,  two  of  his  travellers].     Mr.  P 

told  him  many  had  asked  kindly  for  him,  on  which  Mr.  Bud- 
gett observed, '  Remember  me-  kindly  to  them  all.  I  thank 
God  all  is  right,  "  not  by  works  of  righteousness  that  we  have 
done,  &c.,"  but  of  his  boundless  love  to  me  a  poor  sinner, — 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,"  Ac. 

I  rest  there  for  pardon,  purity,  and  heaven.  I  long  to  go , 
happy  should  I  be  if  I  were  to  go  this  night.  Let  us  remem- 
ber, my  dear  friends,  earth  is  but  a  scale  to  heaven  ;  buying 
and  selling  is  of  no  importance  except  as  they  bear  reference 
to  eternity.  The  Lord  make  you  fit  and  prepare  you  for  it.' 
On  one  of  them  saying,  '  You  will  soon  reach  the  desired 
haven,'  Mr.  B.  remarked, '  0  yes,  I  anticipate  it  with  plea- 
sure, thankfulness,  and  gratitude.  Such  is  human  life.  I 
never  expected  to  suffer  thus  ;  but  there  has  been  great  mercy 
shown  to  me  even  in  this  state.  I  would  not  choose — I  must 
not  choose ;  but  if  I  were  obliged  to  make  the  choice,  I  should 
say  it  were  better  for  me  to  be  dissolved.  Heaven  is  my 
home ;  I  am  travelling  there.  Lord,  thine  only  will  be  done.1 
Mr.  P observed, '  How  the  power  of  God  is  exempli- 
fied in  such  complete  submission  to  the  Divine  will.'  On 
which  Mr.  Budgett  said,  "  It  is  the  work  of  God  ;  it  is  the 
simple  work  of  the  Spirit  in  answer  to  prayer.  I  am  asto- 
nished, because  at  the  beginning  of  my  illness  I  was  fearful 
of  death,  and  more  astonished  because  of  my  unfaithfulness. 
Who  would  not  trust  Thee  ? — 


BREAD  FOUND   AFTER  MANY   DATS.  333 

"0  God,  of  good  the  unfathomed  sea  ! 
Who  would  not  give  his  heart  to  Thee  t 

Who  would  not  love  Thee  with  his  might  I 
O  Jesu,  lover  of  mankind  1 
Who  would  not  his  whole  soul  and  mind, 
With  all  his  strength  to  Thee  unite  f 
• 
Jesus,  thou  art  merciful ;  every  good  thing  comes  from  God. 

Mine  is  a  merciful  affliction.'     Mr.  S said,  '  Perhaps 

it  may  be  interesting  to  you  to  know  that  your  visit  last 
summer  was  made  useful.  Perhaps  you  may  remember, 
after  exhorting  the  people  in  the  school-room  at  Aberyst- 
with,  you  distributed  some  little  books,  and  amongst  the 
rest,  some  entitled,  "  Come  to  Jesus."  A  lady,  who  had 

listened  to  a  part  of  your  discourse,  met  with  Mr.  W 

(the  preacher),  and  begged  that  he  would  procure  one  for  her; 
he  did  so,  and  as  far  as  I  can  trace  the  result,  it  was  made  a 
great  blessing  to  her,  and  proved  the  turning  point  in  her 
religious  experience.'  Mr.  Budgett  said,  '  The  Lord  be 
praised  !  That  evening  I  was  under  a  cloud  ;  I  could  not 
have  imagined  there  would  have  been  any  such  result ;  I  did 
not  appear  to  speak  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit.  He 
did  give  me  a  talent  for  preaching,  a  persuasive  talent,  if  I 
had  only  used  it  aright ;  but  I  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory 
of  God.  0,  my  dear  friends,  try  to  get  all  Nelson  Street,  all 
that  are  under  your  care,  converted  to  God.  I  have  been 
guilty  of  my  brother's  blood,  but  my  sons  will  supply  my 
lack.  I  am  aware  that  business  is  very  important ;  but  com- 
pared with  religion  it  is  but  as  dung  and  dross.1 

"  On  Monday  morning,  he  said  to  Miss  B ,  '  You 

will  find  a  couple  of  books  in  my  drawer  with  Miss 's 

name  in  them.  I  wish  when  I  am  gone  you  would  send 
them  to  her,  and  also  one  of  those  little  books,  "  Come  to 
Jesus,"  or  else  "  The  Sinner's  Friend."  Give  her  my  love ; 
tell  her  I  am  gone  to  heaven,  and  I  hope  she  will  meet  me 


334  THE   LAST  EVENING. 

there.  Tell  her  that  profession  without  possession  is  of  DO 
value ;  that  without  a  real  change  of  heart,  a  firm  reliance 
on  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  she  cannot  be  saved.  I 
have  had  many  conversations  with  her,  but  I  always^ thought 
she  was  quite  in  the  dark  on  religious  subjects.  Now  will 
you  take  her  into  your  charge,  and  either  see  or  write  to- 
her,  and  give  her  my  message  ?' 

"  The  last  evening  of  his  life  he  saw  Mr.  W ,  who 

only  remained  with  him  about  three  minutes.  Mr.  Budgett, 
however,  used  that  short  time  to  the  best  purpose  ;  he  said, 
'  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  flesh  ;  but  bless  God  I'm  ready. 
I  trust  in  the  merits  of  my  Redeemer.'  Then  alluding  to 
the  near  prospect  of  his  dissolution  he  said,  '  I  care  not 
when,  or  where,  or  how ;  glory  be  to  God  !'  This  was  the 
last  time  he  was  heard  to  refer  to  it.  During  the  night  he 
appeared  rather  restless  ;  but  most  of  his  waking  hours  were 
employed  in  repeating  portions  of  Scripture,  hymns,*&o. 
The  last  he  distinctly  repeated  was, — 

'  With  glorious  clouds  encompaas'd  round, 

Whom  angels  dimly  see, 
Will  the  Unsearchable  be  found, 
Or  God  appear  to  me  f ' 

In  the  morning  he  sent  for  his  daughter,  and  on  her  enter- 
ing, said, '  I'm  glad  you  .are  come.  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you. 
You  understand  me}  To  Miss  B he  said,  '  0  !  sis- 
ter Elizabeth,  I  had  one  or  two  things  to  say  to  you.  I 
want  you  to  give  five  sovereigns  for  me  between  four  per- 
sons.' He  then  mentioned  by  name  three  persons  of  his 
class  who  were  much  afflicted  ;  the  fourth  name  he  could  not 
recall,  but  said, '  I  'm  very  weak,  I  shall  think  of  it  bye  and 
bye.1  His  medical  attendant  then  saw  him,  and  stated  it  as 
his  opinion  that  he  would  most  probably  linger  for  many 
weeks.  He  felt  strange,  and  soon  after  was  removed  into 


HE   DEPAETS.  335 

bed ;  but  he  still  complained  of  a  strangt'Teeling,  and  wished 
the  surgeon  to  be  sent  for,  which  was  accordingly  done.    He 
sat  with  him  for  some  time,  but  the  pulse  was  still  regular. 
£  WlkoVtowardsthe  fire-place,  but  had  not  been  there  a 
minu;;e.  when  Mr.  Budgett  «l«i«i*£*, ±Q   dear !'  and  on 
turn,      .  roun(jj  iie  perceived  a  change  had  takeu^ce.     r^ 
bell  "fc^tig  violently,  immediately  all  the  members^  the 
family  who  were  ^t  home  assembled  in  his  room,  and  fou» 
him  supported  in  Martha  s  u— «ns,  his  heart  throbbing  vio- 
lently.    The  blood  rushed  to_his  heat^i.  his  face  changed  to 
purple,  his  eyes  were  half  open,  but  he  was  -^apparently  un- 
conscious.   They  watched — his  eyes  gently  closed,  atted  with- 
out a  struggle  or  a  sound,  his  spirit  winged  its  way  to  thaw*, 
haven  he  had  so  long  desired  to  reach  ! 
I 

'They  looked; 

He  was  dead ; 

His  spirit  had  fled ; — 
Painless  and  swift  as  his  own  desire. 

The  soul,  undrest 

From  her  mortal  vest, 
Had  stepped  in  her  car  of  heavenly  fire, 

And  proved  how  bright 

Were  the  realms  of  light, 

Bursting  at  once  upon  the  sight'  " 


Farewell,  patient  reader ;  our  task  is  done  !  May  God 
bless  thee  !  May  He  give  thee  bright  days,  tranquil  nights, 
and  a  happy  end !  And  when  He  opens  the  GREAT  BOOK 
wherein  all  our  lives  are  written,  0  may  it  contain  a  good 
account  of  thee ! 

THE    END. 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


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